‘GOOD Hair’ and Afro-nostalgia in a living room at Augsburg University
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Artist Nia-Symonne Gayle recreated her childhood living room in a gallery at Augsburg University in Minneapolis.
It’s an immersive experience so, make yourself at home.
There is a couch, two rocking chairs and a few lamps. On the walls are archival photographs along with portraits taken by the artist. A TV plays clips of Malcolm X and “Moesha.” There are vintage Jet magazines and the 1992 photo book “Songs of My People.” The coffee table holds a tray of hair products.
The art installation is called “GOOD Hair,” and it’s up at Augsburg’s Christensen Gallery through Feb. 19.
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"The gallery has been turned into a living room, which was the location of where my mother would do my hair growing up, and for so many Black people, it’s where many of us got our hair done,” Gayle says. “It was important to pay homage to that and bring that layer of Afro-nostalgia into my work.”
Afro-nostalgia refers to a reflection on Black cultural traditions, memories and experiences that shape identity and community. The phrase was explored by Badia Ahad-Legardy in her 2021 book “Afro-Nostalgia: Feeling Good in Contemporary Black Culture,” where she detailed how Black artists and communities engage with positive memories and cultural traditions to foster joy and resilience.
Gayle studied graphic design at Augsburg and graduated in December. “GOOD Hair” is her senior capstone project, part of the university’s Art & Design Senior Showcase Exhibition. Gayle is now a freelance art director for Black-owned companies and organizations, as well as an assistant art director for Late Bloomer Media.
“GOOD Hair” follows Gayle’s 2023 photo series “Dear Hair,” about “the process many African American women go through when reverting to their natural hair.”
The project was inspired by Gayle’s love for her own hair, something she says her mother instilled in her by teaching her how to care for it. Gayle explains that “good hair” is a term in Black culture used to refer to hair that is more Eurocentric in nature as opposed to hair that is thicker, tightly coiled, etc.”
“It represents layers of texture-ism and colorism that can be embedded within our community, and something that is passed down through a sense of kind of representing how this world has taught so many Black people to not love who they are or how their hair naturally is,” Gayle says.
Gayle says the art installation is a love letter to her mother and to Black people and Black culture.
It’s a reminder, she says, that all hair is good hair.
“I hope people can step away, if you're Black, with a sense of nostalgia and joy and gratitude towards being Black and embracing this culture,” Gayle says. “And for those people that aren’t Black, I hope you can step away with an appreciation of the richness that is Black culture and how it is embedded in every facet of life.”
