Wednesday, February 12, 2014

'A Queen and Her Crown: A Celebration of Natural Hair'


As part of an events series meant to raise awareness of African-American Heritage Month, UNC Charlotte’s Multicultural Resource Center is hosting a photo exhibit titled “A Queen and Her Crown: A Celebration of Natural Hair” through Feb. 28.



Rashona Sharpless, a second-year graduate assistant at the center, put the exhibit together and said the goal is to show the beauty of natural hair, and how perceptions of it have changed.

“There is a bit of a stigma to having natural hair and there was a time that a black woman wearing her natural hair was not seen as professional,” she said.

“Some of the older norms that are fading, but still present today, are that natural hair is unprofessional or dirty. There have been several stories in the media about young black girls being threatened with expulsion for wearing their hair natural,” Sharpless said.

The exhibit includes 20 photos, and the models are students, faculty and staff at UNCC, Sharpless said. The pictures were taken by Charlotte-based photography company Project Noir.

“We included faculty and staff to show that in the professional world you don’t have to change your hair if you don’t want to,” Sharpless said.



The free exhibit is outside the Multicultural Resource Center on the second floor rotunda of the Student Union, located on Craver Road. “A Queen and Her Crown: A Celebration of Natural Hair” is open for viewing 7 a.m.-1 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m.-1 a.m. on the weekends.

Free parking is available on the Student Union parking deck; mrc.uncc.edu.

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