Description text goes hereThe movement isn’t an indictment on how we choose to do our hair and thus how to assimilate; we are free to do what we want with our bodies. However, there’s liberation in chopping off your hair as a woman, a sign of femininity, and certainly an added weight as a black woman, a sign of femininity and proximity to a standard of beauty created for exclusion. The emotional weight is heavier than the physical.

Truthfully, this is not a favorite piece of mine but at the time it is most genuine to my feelings of how I approached art at the time. Seeking stronger friendships with black women when I moved to the UK was very important to me, companions and compassion would help me move through school on more feelings of inclusion.

Though limited by the constraints in which it was made the simplest things, the friendship, are the best to see. It was fun to make, fun to be in this space, and fun to see these two women relate on an intrinsic level. Even without dialogue, we understand the connection.

As a happy accident, her best friend is not using common sense in holding her scissors but it’s almost horror-ish. This chop permanently changes a part of her life. The loss of her shield and changing perception of herself to make anew. Common, ordinary, scary.