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HAIR IN AFRICAN ART AND CULTURECalifornia African
May 26, 2001 through August 19, 2001 Review by Sojin KimStyled into dread locks or afros, shaved into patterns, embellished with beads, or braided with hair extensions, contemporary African and African American hairstyles exist in dynamic relation to one another as well as to traditional styles of the past. This is among the most resonant messages of the exhibition Hair in African Art and Culture now on display at the California African American Museum (CAAM) through August 16, 2001. Originally organized by the Museum for African Art in New York, this exhibition was curated by Frank Herreman, the museum's director of exhibitions, and Dr. Roy Sieber, Professor Emeritus of art history at Indiana University. Through 170 artifacts and 80 photographs, the exhibition demonstrates how hair has been represented, used, and styled to communicate a range of symbolic and social meanings among Africans. The curators culled these materials from collections around the world encompassing a period of documentation and acquisition that spans over 100 years. The artifacts include masks and figurines of wood, metal, fabric, and they demonstrate a number of approaches to rendering hair, which include carving, beading, weaving, and metal forging. The documentary photographs show men, women, and children with different hairstyles, some of which are also represented on the artifacts. The exhibition is divided into seven sections: 1) "Hair in Life and Art" demonstrates how and why hair has been incorporated into traditional masks and figurines; 2) and 3) "Hair as an Expression of the Life Cycle" and "Hair as a Declaration of Prestige" emphasize how hair styles may reflect a person's station in life and society; 4) "Hair as a Power Substance" provides examples of talismanic uses of hair; 5) "Creating and Embellishing Hair Arrangements" addresses the process of hair styling and the instruments and objects involved (e.g., combs, razors, beads); 6) "Protection of Coiffures" displays headrests that enable people to preserve their hairstyles while they sleep by suspending their heads above the sleeping surface; 7) "Innovating Coiffures" focuses on contemporary, urban contexts of African and African American hairstyles. The enormity and complexity of the exhibition's geographic parameters is represented in a map of the continent showing the all its constituent countries. The exhibition emphasizes general themes through displays combining artifacts and photographs from different cultural groups and countries. Artifact and photographic labels date and identify provenance (place and source), but they do not describe historical contexts, and only a selection of labels place the meaning and uses of the items and hairstyles in their cultural contexts. While the more descriptive labels provide compelling information, they also introduce terms that are not always defined and they provoke questions tangential to the primary themes of the exhibition. For example, the label copy for the photographs are presumably adapted from original field notes--one caption identifies "a particularly attractive young mother with 'kanuri' style hairdo" photographed in 1960. Reading these, my attention shifted away from the consideration of what people do with their hair to questions concerning the original collection/documentation context of the artifacts and photographs, the objectives of the collectors/researchers who gathered the items or took the photographs, and the cultural differences that necessarily distinguish Africans--and their varied belief and aesthetic systems--from one another. The exhibition's key messages are most effectively communicated visually through the arrangement of objects, photographs, and edited video footage. The placement of photographs in relation to artifacts demonstrates how material culture (figurines, dolls, masks) may directly reflect and refer to the ways in which people style their hair. One display features a tall wooden figure of a Fanti woman adorned in fabric and beads. The figure's hair is formed into two horn shapes that extend and meet above her head, a style typically worn by priestesses among the Akan of Ghana. Beside the figure is a series of four photographs from the early 20th century that show in stages a woman whose hair is being similarly styled. The juxtaposition of videos showing contemporary hairstyling with the historic photographs and artifacts infuses the exhibition with vitality-they show process, individual technique and artistry, the interpersonal context of hairstyling, and the connections among the meaning and form of hairstyles in different places and from different time periods. The videos, presented in three different areas, document a New Jersey-based hairdresser as she masterfully styles the hair of four women. In one of the video segments, hair extensions are braided into an elaborate coiffure. On a nearby gallery wall, a 1940s photograph taken in Namibia features two women whose braids have been lengthened to their ankles through the use of sinew (eefipa) extensions. The organization of the final section of the exhibition most directly demonstrates how hairstyles develop from a dynamic process involving invention, appropriation, adaptation, and tradition. The centerpiece of the room is a painted steel-and-wood barbershop from Ghana. The entire exterior is hand painted with words and images advertising the services and styles available, some sported by figures modeled after African American pop culture icons such as Run-DMC. Signage from other barbershops, displayed in proximity to the structure, advertise popular cuts--Boeing 707, Concord, Ford, Afro Cut, Expert, American Boy--and from an adjacent wall, a row of photographs shows examples of contemporary hairstyles donned by individuals in the United States and Africa. The prolific use and arrangement of artifacts and photographs in the earlier sections of the exhibition offer evidence of the rich cultural history of contemporary African and African American hairstyles. Through the display in this last section, the exhibition ultimately communicates a broader message about how many of us style our hair to express individual creativity or identification with certain people, attributes, or ideals--and in doing so necessarily draw upon the multiple cultural sources available in a world where fashion and traditions cross borders and contexts in varied and sometimes unexpected ways. A catalog was produced in conjunction with the exhibition. It includes an interesting range of articles that address in detail historic, cultural, and contemporary aspects of hair in African and African American life and culture. Interactives in the galleries (experience the use of a headrest, try your hands at braiding), docent-guided tours, and a schedule of public programs provide additional means for visitors to engage the exhibition themes. Remaining programs include: "Fantastic Hair!" (Sunday, Aug. 5, 2001, 1-3 pm), which invites people to consult with professional stylists about hair care and styling; and "Top It Off: (Saturday, Aug. 11, 2001, 1-3 pm) which provides instruction on African head-wrapping.
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