While we tend to ascribe the image of a happy-to-be-nappy-chick with a slew of implications about political and social statements, particularly in light of the now not-as-recently mainstream natural hair movement, cornrows are another traditional style that instead is often viewed simply as a means for looking fresh, no more ideologically significant than rocking the newest pair of Jordans.
"The Dreamtime," a series of portraits by a NJ artist/high school teacher, takes a second look at that assumption, and draws out the frequently forgotten rich tradition behind what happens to be currently trendy. She photographed all of these styles during her time teaching in Paterson, and makes deliberate choices to depict them in ways that revive the colorful cultural history they embody even in a contemporary context.
read more about the series here, and see the rest of the images on her site.
