Sacred Seeds: Communicating Through Hair Systems Exhibition
Sacred Seeds: Communicating Through Hair Systems is an exploration of communication through Black hairstyles and haircuts by artist Inyang Essien. The imagery presents intricate haircuts and hair designs as well as African threaded hairstyles paired with patterned fabrics. The patterns found in the hair not only serve as design and cultural styling, but also communicate identity and intentional messaging. Intricacies in braids and cornrows could communicate identity such as, marital status, age, and tribe, but have also been known to serve as maps or hide seeds and grains to help the enslaved.
About the artist: Inyang Essien is a Nigerian-American photographer and visual artist from Dallas, TX. Her work is based in photography, cultural textiles, video installations, and generative art to explore identity through culture, sexuality, and personal transformation. In 2021, she was a recipient in the inaugural cohort of the Juanita J. Craft Artist Residency and was a recipient of both the Nasher Artist Grant and Cedars Union Art & Equity Scholarship.
