Don’t Touch My Hair: Expressions of Identity and Community

Ugochukwu Akabike, Jaria Martin, 2018

Don’t Touch My Hair: Expressions of Identity and Community

February 23, 2018 to May 13, 2018

Organized by UO graduate and guest curator Meredith Lancaster, this exhibition investigates the politics of hair, racialized beauty standards, hair rituals, and the differences in expectations between men and women with regard to hair. Especially relevant in the current politically and culturally charged climate and relevant to issues of access, equity, and inclusion, Don’t Touch My Hair explores how beauty is defined and represented within and outside one’s community. Lancaster and a team of student collaborators invite students and student groups across the UO campus to participate in conversations about hair, both seen and unseen, as a site of resistance and affirmation. Students will be self-selected during open forums for photographic portraits. Next to the portraits will be the sitters’ personal hair stories. The project and related events are generously funded by the UO Division of Equity and Inclusion.