Fingerwave Saint

August 25, 2016 5:09 PM

“I wanted to create images that portray black women in a way that would inspire them not to be necessarily pretty, which is what most beauty stuff is about, but to kind of embody that and more within themselves,” Ms. Crowe said [NYT]. “Everything starts within you and how you feel about yourself. It’s just trying to glorify black women and make them imagine themselves beyond their wildest dreams.”

Fingerwave Saint, with its braided halo, is a nod to the depiction of holy figures in painting and portraiture...

Shani Crowe [Refinery29] on cultural appropriation:

It’s strange when the source of your shame adopts the qualities you were shamed for, receives praise for these qualities, and is heralded as a trendsetter. Add the mistrust from centuries of pillaging and displacing millions of people from their native lands. If you have learned from experience to be wary of trusting someone, you are much less inclined to trust them with something as sacred as your culture.

posted by hilaryjade (4 comments total)

That is SO COOL! Here are all the images from this set I've been able to find online. Thanks for posting this!
posted by Spinda at 11:40 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

The single cowrie shell is my favourite and I ended up reading about braids with cowries which is a long black diaspora and various African traditions as well. I've seen them and thought just oh shells, cute, but they're so much more.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 1:25 AM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

Spinda - thanks for collecting the pics in one spot! Yah, I found these jaw-dropping.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:33 AM on August 26, 2016

I know the woman in "Shekere" - we went to college together. It's especially wonderful that her braids are representative of musical gourds, because she is an amazing West African dancer, and also teaches and mentors kids in Chicago and St. Louis through West African dance.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:33 AM on August 26, 2016 [3 favorites]