Abebe
J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, Nigerian, 1930 - 2014
1975
Gelatin silver print
Image: 17 3/8 × 17 3/8 in. (44.2 × 44.2 cm)
Sheet: 23 5/8 × 19 11/16 in. (60 × 50 cm)
Frame: 26 7/8 × 25 7/8 in. (68.2 × 65.7 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Robert J. Grey
2017.55
Geography
Place Made: Nigeria, Western Africa, Africa
Period
20th century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Africa
Not on view
Inscriptions
Signed, dated, and stamped, on reverse, in ink.
Label
Throughout the Black Atlantic world, braiding hair and wearing one’s hair braided is a marker of beauty and pride. Braiding hair can be meditative and Black beauty salons around the globe are spaces of community building where Black women practice love and care for one another. Braiding is considered a protective style, meaning it protects the hair from breakage caused by over styling, but it is also protective in the sense of the sisterhood these women create around the art of braiding. Ojeikere has documented hundreds of these highly stylized coiffures, serving as portraits of Black women’s beauty culture. Braiding hair is an art form: braiders are subject to meticulous criticism based on length, style, and shape, and it requires years of practice to perfect one’s technique.
From the 2023 exhibition Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, curated by Alexandra Thomas, Curatorial Research Associate
Course History
SART 30, SART 75, Photography II and III, Virginia Beahan, Spring 2019
SART 30/SART 75, Photography II/III, Virginia Beahan, Spring 2022
SART 29.01, Photography I, Virginia Beahan, Fall 2022
First Year Student Enrichment Program – Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Colleen Lannon, Summer 2023
First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Mokhtar Bouba, Summer 2023
Philosophy 1.11, Art: True, Beautiful, Nasty, John Kulvicki, Summer 2023
Writing 2.05, Why Write, Anyway?, Erkki Mackey, Fall 2023
Writing 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023
Writing 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023
Anthropology 31.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2023
Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2023
Creative Writing 10.02, Writing and Reading Fiction, Katherine Crouch, Fall 2023
Geography 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Fall 2023
Humanities 2.01, The Modern Labyrinth, Dennis Washburn, Paul Carranza, Ainsley Morse, Laura Edmondson, Winter 2024
Writing 5.06, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024
Writing 5.07, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024
College Course 21.01, What's In Your Shoebox?, Francine A'Ness and Mokhtar Bouba, Spring 2024
College Course 21.01, What's In Your Shoebox?, Francine A'Ness and Mokhtar Bouba, Spring 2024
Exhibition Tour: Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, Summer 2023
Exhibition History
Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, and Northeast Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 22, 2023–May 25, 2024.
Provenance
Yosi Milo Gallery, New York, New York; to Robert J. Grey, Allentown, Pennsylvania; given to present collection, 2017.
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