Photos: Black Hairstyles as Art

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  • 042311 national LYM James 19
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James

As an art teacher, So Yoon Lym spent her days filling her students’ minds with the finer points of the form. But between classes, she began to pay attention not just to the amount of art in her students' heads, but to the art they wore on top of them. The intricate cornrows and hair arrangements that many of her students wore as an expression of personal style were, for So Yoon, part of a long history of folk art, whose reach extends globally, across Africa, Asia and Australia, and that is often created by unheralded female artisans.

With her students’ permission, So Yoon shot digital photographs of their hairstyles over the near-decade she taught at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey. Three years ago, she began using the photos to paint hair and braid patterns that would become a series of 21 portraits – each named for the student whose hair inspired the work.

The collection is on exhibit through the end of the month at the Arthur M. Berger Gallery at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York.

(Image courtesy of So Yoon Lym)

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