Edited by Anne Morin. Foreword by Angela Bassett. Poem by Patricia Smith.
A photographic panorama of the creativity and variety of Black women's hairstyles
In Crowns: My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom American photographer Sandro Miller (born 1958) celebrates the social endurance, cultural heritage and self-expression of Black women through their hairstyles. In this series of portraits, each subject is posed in front of either a strikingly black or vibrant geometric background that serves to highlight the models’ skin tones and accentuates their ultra-stylized hair, whether a halo of bright gold curls or crimson locks swept into an elegant bun. Each image is based on the relevant model’s “hair story” and pays homage to her personal fashion sense, documenting the many unspoken ways in which Black women assert their autonomy through their physical appearance. In this project, Miller seeks to recognize and honor Black women’s creativity and beauty while celebrating their social endurance and cultural memory at the same time.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Crowns: My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom'.
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A celebration of Black beauty at its finest.
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Featured photograph, titled “Ipeleng,” is reproduced from Crowns: My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom, collecting 140 vivid color portraits of Black women with excellent, inspiring hair by Sandro Miller. “Yes, the crowns here are rambunctious,” Patricia Smith writes in her Introduction. “They are fierce, with tint both fiery and chill. If you gaze at them and then slam your eyes shut, they will still be there. The portraiture is so alive, so undeniably real, that you can almost reach out and plunge your hands into those glorious, uproarious naps. You can almost smell the heady combination of spiced oils shimmering in the coiled or braided strands. But it would be a mistake to believe that this work is that keenly focused, that it is simply a devoted homage to what is arguably the African-American woman’s most visible and controversial trait. This is a history book. This is a study of the myriad ways the Black woman struts through the world, the obstacles she confronts and shatters, the inevitable and indelible mark she leaves wherever she enters. This is not just an elegantly wrought look at the crowns the woman wears. This is the glorious story of the woman who wears them.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 12 x 13.5 in. / 180 pgs / 140 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $75.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $102 ISBN: 9788857245584 PUBLISHER: skira AVAILABLE: 3/22/2022 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA
Crowns: My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom Photographs by Sandro Miller
Published by skira. Edited by Anne Morin. Foreword by Angela Bassett. Poem by Patricia Smith.
A photographic panorama of the creativity and variety of Black women's hairstyles
In Crowns: My Hair, My Soul, My Freedom American photographer Sandro Miller (born 1958) celebrates the social endurance, cultural heritage and self-expression of Black women through their hairstyles. In this series of portraits, each subject is posed in front of either a strikingly black or vibrant geometric background that serves to highlight the models’ skin tones and accentuates their ultra-stylized hair, whether a halo of bright gold curls or crimson locks swept into an elegant bun. Each image is based on the relevant model’s “hair story” and pays homage to her personal fashion sense, documenting the many unspoken ways in which Black women assert their autonomy through their physical appearance. In this project, Miller seeks to recognize and honor Black women’s creativity and beauty while celebrating their social endurance and cultural memory at the same time.
