Application Closed
Entry Fee (Natural Movement): $25.00
Images | Minimum:Min. 2, Maximum:Max. 5
Total Samples | Minimum:Min. 2, Maximum:Max. 5
Eligibility: Regional
State: Delaware
CALL DETAILS
The Delaware Contemporary is accepting submissions for a group exhibition based around the central ideas of “Hair and the CROWN Act”. The CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and, Open World for Natural Hair,” is a law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination; namely the denial of employment, recreational, and educational opportunities because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including braids, locs, twist, or bantu knots.
For decades men and women of color have conformed to European societal standards, both culturally and institutionally in regards to their identity, and more specifically, by altering the natural growth of hair. People of color have been subjected to processing their hair with chemicals, straightening, and weaving their natural hair to conform to societal standards for acceptance, employment, and conformity in schools and the workplace.
How has this rhetoric and politics alienated people of color? How does public discourse about hair and microaggressions play out in the role of institutions and opportunities of advancement? This exhibition asks how contemporary artists together with museums can progress this dialogue?
The CROWN act has only been passed in certain states and is not legal in all states throughout the US, therefore many people of color still consider how their hair will be policed in institutional settings. Many people of color are now opposing nonverbal communications placed on them by Colonialism that inform the opinions about the ways in which they are viewed based on their hair appearance. The natural hair trend has swept through many communities of color. Both men and women are choosing nonconformity in dismantling cultural discrimination whether that be implicit or explicit, including standards and practices that promote perceptions of ethnic hair as less desiraable, unruly, unattractive, unprofessional, nonfeminine and unkempt. To learn more about the CROWN act please visit https://www.thecrownact.com/.