American Hair

"AMERICAN HAIR is a traveling exhibit and lecture series that examines how hair intersects with culture and identity in the United States. This project has been awarded a prestigious Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Candacy Taylor has traveled over 20.000 miles documenting hair salons that predominantly serve: African American, Caucasian, Dominican, Jamaican, Japanese, Orthodox Jewish, Pakistani and Transgender communities...

The project also examines how the rise in bi-racial and mixed race populations are changing not only the way we look, act and see but is also changing our hair texture. An article in the Los Angeles Times confirmed that salons are being nudged out of their comfort zone to serve a new, mixed-race America with different hair textures. This is a fascinating time as the very essence of our identity as a country is changing. As a result, new dialogues are emerging and this project captures that conversation. Although hair may appear to be something based in vanity it is really a rich, complex topic for discovery about American culture and about ourselves."