Black Hair and Heritage

Cultural identity and history and experience are all tied up in hair.

The Black Hair and Heritage project celebrates black women their hair and identity through three strands of exploration. 

The all ages workshop will bring together community elders and younger people to share common experiences and create artwork together. Together black women will have the chance to openly discuss issues and experiences related to their own cultural identities. 

Following on from conversations at the workshops everyone is invited to The Salon, an open event bringing people together to explore black hair and identity through spoken word, music and history talks. The whole project will then be brought together in a limited edition zine combining the art piece from the workshop, contributions from The Salon and portraits from the exhibition on black hair, Plaits, Princesses and Pink Moisturiser (2018).

The Salon

Thursday 26 September, 6:30pm-9:30pm, This time next year, E10 5UB

An intimate evening of discussions, music, drag, poetry and a zine launch exploring Black women, femmes, hair and memory.

Featuring guest speakers:

Ruth Sutoyé: Creator and curator behind Bald Black Girl(s), creative producer, visual artist and poet. She is a Roundhouse Resident Artist and Barbican Young Poet alumna.

Sicgmone Kludje: Co-founder of Black Girl Knit Club, knitwear designer and Textile Lecturer at UAL. She has also worked as a model, featuring in editorials for Black Hair Magazine and the Afro Hair & Beauty live show.

Councillor Vicky te Velde: Labour Councillor for Wood Street and Junior Cabinet Member for Connecting Communities. She is also VC of the North East branch of the Fabian Society and has a PhD in International Relations.

Sandra Shakespeare: Co-founder of Museum Detox, a network for people of colour making radical change in museums. She is also a museum constultant and creative producer formerly of the National Archives.

Performances from:

Nawi Collective: Vocal collective of Black women and femmes

Son of a Tutu: Award winning drag queen and equality activist

Loussin-Torah: Poet and producer

Tickets are by donation. Pay whatever you can afford! ALL proceeds will go directly to Kachipanda Village in Malawi which was devastated by Cyclone Idai in March. 

Get tickets here 

Presented by independent curator and researcher Korantema, Black Hair and Heritage project continues her research into hair, heritage and identity. Korantema is interested in the experiences of women and non-binary people and their hair, especially how it relates to family and identity

Part of the Make it Happen Fellowship Funding programme.