Abstract
Ideals of beauty for most African American women are primarily formed by pressure from the negative attitudes of family and friends, as well as media representations that insist on Europeanized beauty standards such as light eyes, long-straight hair, and an hour glass body figure. Those standards and influences have and continue to have a negative impact on African American women’s, self-esteem, self-acceptance and confidence. In my thesis work, I have taken my personal experience and knowledge of beauty and body image expectations and questioned it in relation to historical context and current events. To gain better understanding of what beauty is defined as for individual African American women as well as myself; my thesis work explores and compares past and present beauty standards and ritualistic routines and procedures widely used by African American females. Specifically, it addresses the following themes: chemical hair alterations, hair politics and symbolism, body image, influence of relatives, and the influence of pop culture and media representations. To address these themes, I compare my personal experiences and embodied knowledge as an African American woman with the historical context of Black hair and beauty in America, as well as in other countries. To support my thesis, I reference various artists as well as global current events that relate directly or correspond with my thesis and research. My work pushes back on the negative connotations that have come along with an experience or comment that was made toward me, that many African American women face daily.
Throughout my research, I learned that women have various reasons and beliefs as to why they wear their hair a certain way, or idealize certain body images. Overall, my research concluded that many women struggle with a lack of self-esteem, self-acceptance, and overall confidence about their natural appearance and depend on various beauty alterations to assure themselves of their own worth. From family members to media representations and social media it is hard to escape the consistent pressure to alter one’s natural appearance. Because the negative connotations, attitudes and consistent representations in media are not going away, it is important to make sure that our youth understand and accept their own natural appearance before they are taught to alter it. Art is one of the many important factors that helps start conversations that challenge social norms. In my current installation, I hope to expose my audience to the ugly truths of modern day beauty standards and rituals such as surgical cosmetic procedures. More conversations need to be held among African American women of all ages, so that we do not continue the trend of passing down negative connotations and attitudes about our own image, as well as confront the miseducation between generation of what beauty and body image is to them verse society standards.
