September 15 marked the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, and students in the Green Cluster are starting off with some new hairstyles inspired by artist Lorna Simpson! Simpson was born in Brooklyn in 1960 to a Jamaican-Cuban father and an African American mother. She is most known for her photography, collage, and multimedia work, which explores the themes of race, gender, and equality. In her lesson about Simpson for Hispanic Heritage Month, Room 703 Co-Teacher Zoe Carril emphasized Simpson’s use of identity politics in her work, to make her audience aware of the unfair treatment of marginalized groups.
The activity that the students did was inspired by Simpson’s “hair collage” series, where the artist cut out photos of models from magazines, and then created hair for them using watercolor. This technique draws the viewer’s attention to the model’s hair, including the shape, style, and color. As an artist who supports the Crown Act, a U.S. law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination, Simpson’s collages elevate the models’ hair as art.
To create their own collage, each student took a photo to use as their portrait, and then cut out everything except their hair, much to the amusement of the class. Students created their new hairstyles inspired by Zentangles, which are a doodle-esque, easy way to create structured patterns. Ms. Carril provided them with examples of patterns they could use in their Zentangle, and the students got to drawing! They had a blast designing these creative, elaborate hairstyles, and making them come to life on their own head. Ms. Carril noted that, “This project emphasized how hair can be important to one’s culture or identity, and to embrace that individuality in whatever way that looks like to you!”
