Thank You For Doing My Hair (2022)

This series came to fruition over a period of three days in Liège. During that time I spend most of my days hanging out in several of the many African barbershops located in the city. As in many places over the globe, and in addition to their primary function as barbershops, they also serve as cultural institutions where black people engage in candid conversations and strengthen community ties. They are spaces where people come to meet, bond, relax and talk about a wide variety of subjects, such as sports, currents events, business and personal matters. While talking with store owners and patrons and making these images, many memories from my own lifelong experiences and visits to barbershops in Antwerp and Brussels re-surfaced. As these memories came back to me, I thought a lot about the sense of intimacy behind the act of cutting/handling someone's hair and the notion of love for one's own beauty these places induce.