After showing part of my collection of afro hair portraits, I was invited to exhibit at the prestigious art gallery Casa Frela in Manhattan New York. For a month, my photos were enlarged and hung in the beautiful Brown Stone, which is not only part of the Harlem Art Walking Tour (HAWT), but where Beyonce also shot her famous video “If I Were a Boy”.
The best part of this exhibition was that Kroeshaar had all the attention for a whole month in all its glory. To make it even more attractive and interesting I also organized special activities every weekend. In addition to a reception there was also a head wrap workshop on the program, as well as the documentary “My Nappy Roots”, a hair workshop and the Going Natural hair show.
The opening reception was already amazing for me. Every photo had a story and I loved being able to tell the story behind a hairstyle.
In my enthusiasm I asked everyone which portrait they thought was the most beautiful. Almost unanimously everyone chose the portrait of Lurie Daniel Favors, the lawyer from Brooklyn, with an insanely full and dense afro.
A good friend of mine, William Pace, who saw my work for the first time, remarked that I disarmed people as a photographer. Through the colorful portraits he could see that people easily opened up to me and according to him that is a gift that made every photo even more special. For me that was the compliment of the evening. Bill, as we call him, is a film director and lecturer at the New York School. After that compliment from such a renowned talent, with a keen eye for everything that has to do with images, the exhibition could not go wrong.
The Going Natural hair show was also a great success. The world's most famous Afro hair salons Khamit Kinks , Twists and Curves and Locs and Chops spared no effort to show their best side. The hairstyles were phenomenal. Here is a slide show of the hairstyles and the videos of the reception. I am very curious about your reaction.
See here the Photo collection for the Commemoration of Slavery Past