University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
Doi
Abstract
This thesis explores the efficacy of hair as a tool in art to address assertions of femininity, citizenship, consciousness, and identity within the black experience in the United States and in South Africa. I interpret depictions of hair in the art of four contemporary female artists of color: Sonya Clark and Mequitta Ahuja, from the United States, and Tracey Rose and Zanele Muholi, from South Africa. Centering my analysis on shared histories of racism and resistance through self-fashioning, I draw from exhibition catalogues, texts on hair and hair in art, and writings on identity politics to further explore the relationships that have existed between women of color in both nations. Inspired by the development of the natural hair movement among women of color, I argue that Clark, Ahuja, Rose, and Muholi demonstrate how references to black hair in art can represent complex visual narratives of the self and the community.Master of Art
