Hair and Afrocentric Pride in the Paintings of Oluwole Omofemi

In the 1960s the natural hair movement took root in the United States from where it spread to other parts of the global black community. Afros of different sizes, textures, and colours framed the faces of activists, film stars, musicians, students, and everyday people of African descent.

In a period when black hair was shamed, considered unkempt, unprofessional, and ugly, wearing these loud afros was seen as a political and social statement, a reclamation of identity, and a redefinition of what was considered beautiful. And these are the themes that, by using hair as a motif, Oluwole Omofemi explores in his paintings.

Omofemi, who paints mostly women, begins by conceiving an idea and a mood he wants to portray. He then finds models from the people around him – strangers, friends, relatives – and takes photographs of them in the clothes he provides. And with these photographs as references, he paints the models into figures exuding poise and pride. In Inner Peace, a woman garbed in a dark turtleneck top is set against a yellow background. Her eyes are pressed shut like her lips, her lids glossy as the tip of her nose, her face held up at a slight incline.

On her head is an engulfing mass of hair – a black cloud surrounding her face and her neck, revealing only a bit of her ear.

Her face is without contours and seems undisturbed, emanating the calm composure of one sure of her place in the world, at ease in herself.

Written by Zenas Ubere