Afro-Dite: HairLoom

Afro-Dite: HairLoom is a contemplation of Black beauty and the celebration of its otherness. Sourced from her childhood experience of wearing large braids to school and being different from her mostly Caucasian schoolmates, the artist invites her mother (and others) to re-braid her hair, this time weaving in textures and textiles of autobiographical, cultural, and ethnic significance. These mixed media plaits also include a number of contributions from the artist’s community of black femmes. These precious fabrics are formed into braid quilts that hold their rich narratives, both painful and exultant. This sacred community artifact contains textiles from a child’s immigration voyage, from a Black Panther’s altar, from a thriving African dress business, from a mother’s battle with cancer, from a newborn’s receiving blanket and more. The performance is held by a soundscape of the stories collected from her contributors about the meaning of each textile woven into the HairLoom, and every few stories the artist tells a poignant story from her own life. The piece concludes with dance in defiance of mainstream beauty standards while carefully selected audience members carefully hold up the thick, floor-length braids —all in moving tribute to lineage and community.

Afro-Dite: HairLoom took place January 18th,  2019 as supportive programming for the exhibit, Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires on Level 5 of the Vivian & David Campbell Centre for Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Further to this, the performance was situated in Thomas’ living room installation.