Ideas From A.M. Darke
Explore below connections from A.M. Darke’s Deep Dive, including more about the Open Source Afro Hair Library and examples of tonic masculinity. Darke's conversation about Black hair representation highlights why Sam's haircut scene was incredibly important in terms of cultural understanding and visibility.
Open Source Afro Hair library Project
A.M. Darke is the creative director of the Open Source Afro Hair Library, a free, highly curated digital database where you can engage with Black hair textures and styles, created by Black artists globally. https://afrohairlibrary.org/
The Library isn't simply collecting images of hairstyles. It’s creating a vocabulary and structure for describing Black hair that is alive, open, and growing. The Library builds a language for describing the complexity and diversity of Black hair. 📸: "CICADA - REGULAR DEGULAR" by Evening Cicada
The Library brings Black hairstyles into digital spaces where they have too often been absent or misrepresented and then makes those designs available to be used, remixed, and reimagined. This shifts representation from something consumed to something people can actively create. 📸: "MALIA" from OSAHL
Tonic Masculinity
R&B and soul legend Luther Vandross (1951-2005): His musical persona centers romance, tenderness, emotional expressiveness, beauty, and sensuality while embracing masculinity.
Miles Morales: Popular for good reason! His masculinity is constructed around creativity, family, vulnerability, friendship, artistic expression, and becoming himself, rather than simply becoming physically powerful.
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Billy Porter embraces vulnerability as a source of power, using theatrical expression to define himself on his own terms. 📸:Wikimedia Commons