My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom is a celebration of the diversity, artistry, and power of black women’s hair. This project is about highlighting the many ways in which black women embrace their freedom of choice and express their creativity through their hair, no matter the style or texture, whether they wear braids, dreadlocks, or weaves or whether they wear it natural or straightened. With each portrait in this ongoing project, I seek to recognize and honor black women’s power and beauty while celebrating blackness and black lives.
Black women haven’t always enjoyed the freedom to wear their hair as they please. Generally, African Americans have been subjected to centuries of racial hatred and oppression in the United States. And when it comes to hair—historically and to this day—black women have been policed and suppressed in numerous ways, including:
For reasons such as these, I feel this project is necessary.
I asked each woman who sat for a “My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom” portrait to share her personal “hair story” with me, as displaying a cross section of unique and varied voices along with the portraits is essential to the series. Working with a team of hair stylist and makeup artist, I was able to achieve a style of hair that my sitter had worn before or would be willing to wear out into the world today. Each woman’s skin was treated thru a unique process with the same black tone. This black tone emphasizes the beauty of blackness, serves as an equalizer to remove the potential for prejudicial skin color biases, and pushes forward each woman’s hair as the focal point. Additionally, my selection of decorative backgrounds was inspired by and includes several African prints. Though some models received striking black backgrounds, I selected the colorful and vibrant patterns on an individual basis, as they resonated with each model’s individuality and the shapes and colors in her hair.
Guided by my deep love for all people, it has been my mission for the past forty years to travel the world photographing people from every culture and walk of life, capturing their beauty as they share their stories—pieces of their lives—with me. “My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom” is a very important part of this mission.
We wanted to let you know that we are in full compliance with the COVID-19 prevention measures and guidelines recommended by AICP & the DGA on-site at our studio. To learn more about our studio during this time, please click here.
