Naturally Afro

^{Naturally afro is a project for which I worked with Natalya Moosa, dj, teacher and founder of Organic Afro, a space to learn and exchange knowledge about afro hair care.

With this shoot we wanted to celebrate natural afro hair: its beauty and its power as a symbol of resistance towards western beauty standards and one of the most powerful symbols claiming black beauty.

We invited women with different experiences that had embraced their hair as it grows naturally. The session became an uplifting meeting among women, black and white, that ignited conversations around experiences related to afro hair and blackness: the empowerment of not modifying one's own natural look; the feeling of coherence of how you look and how you feel within yourself; the feeling of self-care when caring and learning about your body.

As a white woman my place was the one of the listener: to acknowledge and understand better what have been the experiences around beauty for other women. In understanding these experiences and feelings, in knowing better about the history attached to beauty practices and habits, there is a lot to unlock about racist issues that still arise today in our societies. These types of interactions promote healing and shedding of patriarchal and colonial programming, and there is learning, exchange and communication through a creative process.

Credits

Models: Natalya Moosa, Any Nachindandi, Chantel Graham

Photographer: Rocio Chacon

MUA: Viviane Melo
Photo Assistant: Ila Falli

Shot in London, 2022}