Kayla Hill

King Carlos, Digital photography, October 2020,3600 x 5408

Being in quarantine has allowed me to rethink the world around me. For my photo tripic I wanted to focus on a world that didn’t demonize certain aspects of blackness. There are certain connotations that come with wearing a do-rag. The “Do rag” was first created in the early 19th century. It was marketed as a cloth band that can keep hair neat. Eventually it was advertised as a way for black men and women to keep hair moisturized and orderly during the night. Preceding forward to the 1990s and 2000s, the (now called) Du-rag became a predominant accessory for black culture. I wanted to create a series that celebrates that black diaspora experience. There are certain aspects of black culture that are associated with the word ‘ghetto’. Ghetto is a derogatory word used in order to put down certain races of people. The negative insinuations around the word ‘ghetto’ are an act of violence towards marginalized communities. I hope this series can change the way we view black culture and the language that we surround it with. Red, white and blue has certain implications also. I want this to also open up conversations around how this country was built on the backs of black people.