Women behind the lens: ‘When your sister does your hair, you don’t need a mirror’

This photo was taken as part of an art project called the Salooni that I created with three other Ugandan women: Kampire Bahana, Aida Holly-Nambi and Gloria Wavamunno.

The Salooni explores the idea of Black hair practices as systems of knowledge through which culture and survivalist strategies are passed from generation to generation.

We set up a roving hair salon that gave out free hairstyles and made space for Black women to convene, converse and connect over all the good and difficult things about Black hair. These installations happened during the LaBa! street art festival in Kampala, Uganda; the Africa Utopia festival at the Southbank Centre in London; the N’Golá Biennal of arts and culture in Sao Tomé; and the Africa Bass culture festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

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The salon was set with three chairs facing mirrors; we hung up portraits we’d taken and played videos we’d shot, along with reference photos from our research. One chair was dedicated to the stylist who did free hairstyles; one chair allowed visitors to style each other’s hair; the last chair held a “share book” where people could write all the things they wish they’d never learned about their hair. These were later shared in a TEDx Talk that Aida and I gave.

The shoot for this particular series, Magic in the Garden, was very special because we gathered at a friend’s house in Buziga neighbourhood in Kampala, and all the assistance was provided by friends who are in the photos. The photo – and this whole project – remind me that my tribe will show up for me, we’ll show up for each other. It reminds me why I make work for us.

There’s a proverb that informed this project: “When your sister does your hair, you don’t need a mirror.” This image makes me think of my family of Black women, biological and not: so much of the Salooni project was made for this community and to be surrounded by them during its creation is part of the reason this project is so special to me.