For Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Hair Is Rooted in Pride
nytimes.comBlack hair has been a rousing topic for politicians, comedians and artists for decades. Malcolm X argued that straightening Black hair to conform to white beauty standards was a form of racist brainwashing.
Regina Kimbell made a documentary with the brilliant title “My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage” (2010) and the comedian Chris Rock made a similar documentary, “Good Hair” (2009), about the Black hair industry (and, of course, got in trouble at the Oscars for mentioning a Black actress’s lack of hair).
Now a Broadway play, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” written by Jocelyn Bioh, celebrates the “masterpieces” created by West African immigrants on women’s heads in a Harlem braiding shop.
What’s often missing from the Black hair narrative is the experience of Black nonbinary people. The Philadelphia artist Jonathan Lyndon Chase’s sprawling show at Artists Space helps fill the gap with dozens of bold figurative paintings and sculptures, clearly inspired by Cubism, Surrealism and Pop Art, that consider how hair cutting, grooming and caregiving help create a Black queer community.
