Photo Credit: Franklin Street Works

The curatorial premise of Roots & Roads developed as a tribute to the African women who braided seeds and rice into their hair, and into the hair of their children, to ensure that they would be provided for despite the unknown circumstances effected by the transatlantic slave trade. The exhibition title plays on homophones “roots” and “routes,” examining the multiple meanings of each in relation to history and memory.  

Hair and land have been central to articulating ideologies concerning Black freedom, both on the continent and in the African diaspora. The works in this show explore visual similarities and symbolic parallels between land and hair across different forms of media, including video, performance, sculpture and photography.

By examining environments integral to the construction of Black cultural practices, the artists in this exhibition consider the subtle and more direct associations hair has to inherited legacies of dislocation and estrangement, and conversely, belonging. 

Exhibiting Artists: Nakeya Brown, Becci Davis, Morel Doucet, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Wangui Maina, Nontsikelelo Mutiti,  Katarra LaRae Peterson, Jay Simple, JulianKnxx, Bryan Keith Thomas, Nafis White, Andrew Wilson, and Nadia Wolff.