FIRST EXHIBITION: 1.15.16 to 2.6.16 @ The University of North Texas, Union Art Gallery, 1155 Union Cir., Denton, TX 76203 FORMAL RECEPTION: Friday, January 22nd from 7:00pm – 9:00pm #napnetwork on your naptural hair selfie I have created a series of prints and infographics that will live wherever they can be taken or shipped to connect women together in one place to empower and inform one another about their naptural hair. This solution will serve as a way to get the conversation started, influencing the way Black women think (and in turn teach the generations after them) about their hair. I created each illustration by sketching out the models in an exaggerated or fashion-illustrated form before tracing over the sketches in Adobe Illustrator. I was inspired by the beauty and versatility of natural hair and I wanted to make that known by having the models or mannequins look confident in their anonymous forms. I also chose not to give the models any distinguishing facial features because 1) I did not want the models to look like any particular kind of woman predefined by her facial features, and 2) I wanted any Black woman looking at the images to be able to see themselves wearing that particular hairstyle. Because I wanted the images to keep anonymity, I chose not to illustrate hair texture as it looks in the natural. I wanted to find a texture found in nature to emphasize this point as well as imply a freedom found by wearing your hair napturally. I considered leaves at first (and have not completely ruled those out as an option) but found the textures of different feathers to be so beautiful that I wanted to lead with this for the first round of exhibition posters. I used feathers to express the freedom of napturality and the various textures that are found within the natural hair community. I also chose one skin tone to avoid the conversation about lighter and darker skin tones. The posters will include the data I have found thus far. It is my hope that women can see how much time was spent to find a solution to help other women embrace their naptural hair. Along with the quantifiable qualitative data located on the posters, I will also include a relatable (sometime amusing) quote about naptural hair spoken by one of my interviewees to let the Black women viewing the posters know that they are not alone in their natural hair journey. I would like the posters to spark up conversation about similar thoughts and hair experiences so that Black women know that their hair (naps and all) is a beautiful thing worthy of admiration.