Beauty: A Celebration Of Heritage
You know those moments when you find your dream project, or person to work with? Well, I recently had the opportunity to collaborate on an amazing project that I cannot wait to share!
A few months ago, I received a message from Ashely Pitts to see if could help her with a project she had in mind for her daughter.
A LITTLE BACK STORY
Ashley is a wife to her husband of 11 years, TJ, and a mom to two adorable kids! Her daughter, Noelle, is 4 years old and “is the definition of sassy and hilarious all rolled into one.” Her Son, Kingston, will turn 2 in September and “is the sweetest, most affectionate little dude around.” Kingston was born with a rare condition called Anophthalmia. This occurs when a child is born without one or both of their eyes. In Kingston’s case, his right eye didn’t form in utero. All together, they are a beautiful family of 4!
"As a 4 year old”, Ashely explains, “Noelle is at such a fun age, but also at the age where she is very impressionable.” She sees a lot of her friends and peers don’t quite look like her, and notices her moms blonde hair and blue eyes. From day one, Ashley and her husband have made sure to buy Noelle baby dolls of all races, read books and watch movies with diverse characters, etc. With the rise fo the Black Lives Matter movement, Ashley has felt the pull more than ever to really help Noelle “embrace who she is and love every part of herself.”
THE IDEA FOR A COLLABORATION
This is when Ashley reached out!
Being an art junkie herself, Ashley approached me with an idea to create a collection of drawings for Noelle. Ashely has always loved images and drawings of black woman and children that feel “raw and natural.” Think “black and white photos, African hairstyles, and high-contrast”.
The thought of capturing similar images of Noelle kept coming to my mind. However, Ashley realized it would be almost impossible to do Noelle’s hair in this many styles in one day, as well as expect her to sit through photos (moms everywhere are nodding in agreement). Then, Ashely came across my page and had the idea to have the images drawn, rather than photographed!
The nice thing about drawings - you can add pretty much add anything to them, even create new hairstyles from scratch!
NOELLES COLLECTION
So, you can see why I was so excited to receive a message from Ashley. As an artist, I love creating artwork that tells a story - especially one that positively impacts the lives and perception of women and girls in our society.
The collection is made up of 4 different self portraits of Noelle. In each portrait Noelle has a different hair style. Some photos I drew verbatim, others I pieced together based images Ashley sent me to reference.
Take a look …
After we created the drawings, I asked Ashley a few questions about the collection…
Why did you choose to highlight your daughters hair in this collection?
“Hair… a topic I have long dreaded. I always knew the subject would arise as soon as my daughter was old enough to begin noticing differences between herself and her peers. The first instance happened when she was about two and a half years old and she asked me why she couldn’t have “long Elsa hair like her friends at school.” Well, a majority of the little girls at the school she attends typically have straight Caucasian hair, and Noelle has shorter, curly little ringlets. I knew from that moment that it was my responsibility to not only explain why we each have very different hair, but that no one’s hair is better or worse than their neighbor. All hair is beautiful and all hair should be celebrated, especially her own.
What are some things you have learned about beauty in the black community and how they might differ from how you grew up?
TJ and I had been dating about a year. He had a niece who, at that time, was about 3 years old. She was so little and had this big head of long, beautiful curly brown hair. But I will never forget her mom telling me that one day she had come home and made a comment that she wished she looked like Auntie Ashley (me). I wasn’t flattered, I was heartbroken. Because I knew this comment wasn’t coming from a place of admiration, it was coming from a place of desire. It was her desire to look like the girls she was seeing on TV. A desire to look like the girls in her books, on magazine covers, and her baby dolls. She was being told that this was desirable. Society was showing her that “this” is what you have to look like to be a model, actor, or main character.
This was something I had never fully thought about from a child’s perspective because not only did we not have kids at the time, but I was not forced to live this reality as a child myself. I was sad and I knew would deal with first hand one day with my own children. Because of this, I have tried to be intentional in my conversations with them. We talk about their hair, their skin, their eyes, their heritage, their intelligence, their attitudes. All of it. Things that were not discussed with me when I was a child, but are necessary to discuss with Black children; because if they are not being taught this lesson at home, they will not find it elsewhere.
What is your definition of beauty?
Beauty can be mean so many things, but the three things that I would say define your beauty are how you embrace yourself, how you treat others, and your attitude. I will work every single day for the rest of my life to instill this into both of my children. I will remind them that they are different, and embracing your own differences is beautiful. I will remind them to be kind, because your actions define you. And I will remind them to be joyful, because happiness is a choice and it radiates beauty.
If art could talk, what are you hoping this collection will say to your daughter, your family and to others?
I hope this collection will always remind Noelle how versatile and unique that little head of hair is. I want her to look at these portraits and see the beauty in just being herself. I want her to know that she was perfectly and wonderfully made and that she should always celebrate who she is.
I felt honored to be a part of capturing a beauty in Noelle that inspires confidence and celebrates heritage - a transcending beauty that will never cease to exist because of who she is. Amplifying black beauty and diverse beauty in American culture is long overdue, and art is just one way to expose our bias and celebrate the black woman and girls around us.
