Hair, Memory & Identity

We all have a hair story.

Hair can be deeply personal, but it can also be a doorway into much larger conversations about who we are, how we see ourselves, and how we are seen by others. This photography series explores the significance of hair and hairdressing through tender portraits and collected stories, with particular attention to the experiences of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities.

At its heart though, this project is for everyone. Whether we love our hair, struggle with it, have changed it, lost it, hidden it, celebrated it, or used it to express ourselves, many of us carry memories connected to our hair. Hair can hold stories about family, culture, childhood, transformation, confidence, grief, joy, and belonging.

Using these common experiences as an entry point, the exhibition invites audiences to engage with broader questions around race, gender identity, family dynamics, freedom, creativity, and self-determination. The project asks how something as everyday as hair can reveal the ways our identities are shaped by ourselves, our families, our communities, and the world around us.

The public component of the project will take the form of a mini-museum: a living archive bringing together my photographic portraits, personal narratives, and work by other artists. Rather than presenting hair as a single story or experience, the exhibition creates space for many stories to exist alongside one another. To reflect, connect, question, and celebrate the beauty and complexity held in our roots.

The project began with two photographs featured in Tacoma Community College’s Black Artist Exhibition in February 2024. Those images became the starting point for a larger exploration of hair, identity, and storytelling. In January 2025, I was accepted into the Tacoma Artists Initiative Program, which provided support for developing the project and bringing its first public exhibition to life, opening October 3.

I invite you to join others in sharing your hair story. I would love to hear the experiences and memories you hold related to your hair.