As part of #Black365, March 2024 sees the launch of FACE X HORNIMAN – Hair: Untold Stories exhibition. FACE (Fashion Academics Creating Equality) and the Horniman Museum. This exhibition is set in a physical space for the first time, and explores and celebrates the influence, importance and personal narratives attached to the significance of hair seen against Eurocentric beauty standards from Black, Brown and Asian perspectives within the UK.

The exhibition has been curated by Fashion designer and Senior Lecturer Davina Hawthorne (De Montfort University) and Photographer and Associate Professor Max Kandhola (Nottingham Trent University), both council members of FACE and Co-Founder of FACE, Sharon Lloyd. Contributing editors: Dr Sarah Bryne, Professor Emma Tarlo, Rose Sinclair (MBE), Andrew Ibi, Jacob Goff, Benita Odogwu-Atkinson and Michelle Marshall.

The exhibition will seek to take visitors on a journey of discovery of the importance of hair from within the academic and student educational space. Both students and academics explore the complex relationship between hair and identity, revealing the importance of generational traditions in different communities and the power of creative invention.

The exhibition will launch on Wednesday 27 March, 5pm in Keynes College and remain open and free to view for all staff, students, and members of the community in Keynes Atrium and Teaching Gallery spaces until July 2024.

If you would like to attend the Private View please contact Becky Lamyman on StudentEDI@kent.ac.uk by 25 March 2024.

#Black365 is a yearlong campaign to celebrate Black culture, Black excellence and Black achievement at the University of Kent.
FACE (Fashion Academics Creating Equality) works to challenge Higher Education Institutions and industry in fashion, art and design fields to be more inclusive, unified and equitable, with a particular spotlight on issues concerning race, colour and ethnicity. More information on the FACE academics who have supported this exhibition through text and works can be found at weareface.co.uk.
Horniman Museum is located in Forest Hill, South East London, and aspires to connect visitors with global cultures and the natural world, encouraging us to shape a positive future for the world we all share and was the Art Fund Museum of the Year winner 2022.
Works and text produced by FACE Academics and Students for Horniman Museum’s Hair: Untold Stories can also be viewed online.