Crowning glory: The Northwest's African women reclaiming the narrative around Black hair

Their ‘crowning glories’ were straightened and ‘Westernised’ by colonisers, but a new exhibition, Crowned, is giving full flow to the voices of immigrant and ethnic women, says Geraldine Walsh

Tue, 07 Mar, 2023 - 02:00

Geraldine Walsh

Hair is a powerful symbol of individuality, linked deeply to identity. It communicates stories, meanings, and memories. Black hair is beautiful. It’s resilient and an expression of individuality, community, and expression.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, the ongoing project and exhibition, Crowned, is coming to The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon on Wednesday, March 8, at 7pm. Crowned is an ongoing project in Ballyhaunis Direct Provision Centre and The Connaught Inn Direct Provision Centre, Castlebar, Co Mayo. It explores the importance and empowerment of hair and identity through story, conversation and artwork from African women living in the northwest of Ireland.

Carrying on from Crown, a project by artist and musician Breda Mayock, which focused on the identity, culture and stories of Traveller women, Crowned showcases women’s stories, shared through various media including video, sound, conversation, and portraiture.

Mayocks visual arts and music has revolved around the idea of belonging, the desire to affiliate and connect through a common language, a thread that unites people regardless of background, ethnicity, or life experience.

“In recent years, my work has become immersed in exploring the experience of women from minority cultures who live around me in the west of Ireland,” says Mayock. “While working with Travellers, an indigenous ethnic minority in Ireland, I became aware of how similar we are, the intrinsic influence of our mothers, the potential of female power running through all of our lives. But there is one major difference in our lived experiences. I grew up in a family and a social circle that protected my basic rights as a person. However, that same social order did not afford an equal protection to the people of the Traveller community. I see the strength of the women in the Traveller community, but I also see how utterly disempowered they have become. My art focusses on offering visibility to the questions that need to be asked and the need to create change.”

Through her work with the Traveller community, Mayock encountered people from other minority communities in Co. Mayo, immigrants and asylum seekers, people who are new to Ireland and others who have been here for some years. “We have discussed at length the subject of hair and identity of course, but also the core issues around language, discrimination, land, connection to place and activism,” says Mayock.

The four speakers for the Crowned event, Celesta Khosa, Ayandolapo Ayannike Abiolu, Rispa Mwang and Maureen Nalubega, from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, have all lived in Direct Provision and are collaborating with Mayock to share their life stories and personal narratives that are intertwined with hair, their crowning glory.

“For every woman hair is not just hair, but for us, it’s also about our culture,” says Celesta Khosa. “There is so much tradition and self-worth that comes with our hair. As an African woman our hair changes a lot. I call it the roots; they are the main part of our body. So, for us to wash it and comb it and care for it, it takes a lot of time. But it’s not only about protecting our hair. It also symbolises our natural beauty.” The care of black hair and the creative expression of hairstyling such as cornrows and bantu knots have deeply rooted origins. “The reason our hair is mostly cared for is that it's never been appreciated,” says Khosa. “It's always been looked down upon, especially when we were colonised. It's always been a thing that needed to be changed. Our hair and identity were robbed of a lot of the African beauty. But that is because of the power that comes with it.” Crowned is an opportunity to celebrate the unique, challenging, and beautiful aspect of female hair and new Irish communities. There remains a significant lack of opportunity for minority cultures in Ireland to connect with the general population in Ireland and it is in “this gap where so much is being lost,” says Mayock who has found that the “power of sisterhood” is reinforced through witnessing what can be achieved when women come together and work together.

Khosa hopes that women will be empowered by the conversations and stories of Crowned as she says, “If we can talk about how much we love to embrace our hair, it will help others to understand and also help younger people to be proud of their hair and themselves.”

Mayock believes in art as a powerful tool of activism which is vividly expressed in her collaboration with the women of Crowned. “I believe in change,” she says. “I am motivated by women artists and leaders in Ireland and worldwide who advocate for human rights. I believe that art has the ability to convey messages across cultural barriers.”