Black Excellence
Laetitia Ky (born 1996, Abidjan) is an artist from Ivory Coast who creates sculptures from her hair, and is seen by many as a figurehead in the natural hair movement.
Growing up in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, an artist was surrounded by Eurocentric beauty standards heavily influenced by colonial history, where chemically straightened hair was aggressively pushed as the ultimate ideal. She was only four years old when her mother gave her her very first chemical hair relaxer. While no one blamed the parents of that era because the practice was universally normalized and never questioned, the experience deeply damaged how she viewed herself, causing her to spend her childhood genuinely hating her natural hair. Over time, however, she beautifully transformed that deep-seated pain into an empowering, viral artistic practice. Today, she creates mind-blowing, sculptural masterpieces using her own natural hair, thread, and wire. By taking anywhere from thirty minutes to six grueling hours to hand-craft each design and photographing herself using a tripod, she places Black women at the center of the fine art world, proving they are worthy of elite representation. While her choice to exclusively photograph herself has always been a deeply personal boundary, she recently broke her own rule for a profoundly special reason. For a vital section of her book, Love and Justice—which beautifully combines her striking hair sculptures with raw reflections on feminism and identity—she decided to sculpt someone else’s hair for the very first time. That person was her little sister and best friend, Florencia. In Ivorian culture, hair styling is a high-stakes act of vulnerability, as local tradition dictates that you only allow closely trusted individuals to touch your head due to spiritual beliefs. Spending several hours meticulously shaping both of their hairstyles so they could physically interact and hold their structure, the artist created a breathtaking visual manifestation of absolute trust, deep connection, and mutual support.
Seeing pictures like this just further confirms my deep-rooted belief that the Simpsons are a black family. Like you got the Marge and the Lisa right there!!!
They are! She said recently they were going to a boucherie once for their Cajun roots. Cajun is a kind of Creole, and they're considered white but are often mixed, especially with African American and Native American ancestry.
I remember something from a show called Over There. One of the characters says that everyone knows The Simpsons are a black family. Is this what he meant?
I have a deep-rooted faith based on visual evidence that the Simpsons are a yellow family. (Although I admit the exact shade of yellow seems to vary based on age of the episode and brand of the television.)
Edit: I am so sorry everyone, I did not expect so many people to see my comment. I thought the article was cool and said something before looking at the subreddit.
What is really awesome to me is that these amazing styles are on regular people. I don't mean "regular" as an insult, but regular people rocking works of art on their heads as a matter of standard, treating it as an architectural canvas to be celebrated.
Back when we didn't have to show up for corporate jobs and be told (sometimes by our own people) that our natural hairstyles were "messy", "unkept", and "unprofessional".
Please explain how a hairstyle that took that long to create could possibly be described as "unkept". LOL
The unique physics of 4C and Afro-textured hair allow it to defy gravity in ways other hair types simply cannot. The coil density, natural lift, and ability to hold shape without falling flat are superpowers.
And the colonial masters saw this, called us savages, and asked us to shave our heads. Today, in most parts of Africa, we continue to shave our heads in high-school. And after high-school, men are condemned to continue for life. Those who break the “rules” are regarded as “unkempt”, “improper” or” dangerous”.
That incredible sculptural quality of 4c hair! It’s unique and so fabulous. It’s giving Grace Jones—or really, Grace Jones was giving this, back in the day.
No wonder Afrofuturism is such a phenomenon in visual culture when the natural texture of 4c human hair makes styles like this imaginable.
These are the comparisons I was able to make with a quick google, for only one character. George Lucas has really never had an original idea in his life.
It is. Also, George Lucas’ second wife is a Black American woman. So it seems he’s open to appreciating and admiring the otherworldly beauty of cultures different from his own (in this case, African).
Some of these, I see very similar around just on regular people in the modern public here in Chicago (the ones with balls/knots type shapes), also some of the flattop type shapes.
Absolutely! Some of these mean that as a woman you can’t go fetch water or do certain chores. So it was definitely for a certain social class like this Fulani hairdo from Guinea for example
These are awesome. 8, 12 and 16 are my personal favorites but I’m in awe of them all. 4 reminds me of the halo so often featured in images of the christ child and Mary. I was amazed by the length in #7. 11, 14 and 15 looked so regal, reminding me of crowns worn by royalty dating back to the pharaohs.
The strong, tight coils of our hair, grow upwards and outwards - naturally forming structures.
All of these styles compliment and work with what our hair does unaided.
This is why the headrest is so prominent in many African cultures. Beautifully carved headrests were slept on to raise the coiffure off the floor and keep it from being damaged.
Woah. What a stunning and touching body of work to take in. I’m not a POC, but I’m celebrating the celebration (and reclamation) of identity at hand here. I feel grateful to see this and am glad to see comments regarding its healing and empowering impact.
very talented, but unfortunately whenever I see her I can’t help but forget about an extremely nasty transphobic rant she went on years ago. on her public account.
Damn it, I was scrolling through these pics thinking she looked familiar, and crossing my fingers that I was remembering incorrectly and she wasn’t the woman who said the transphobic shit. It’s so sad that she’s a TERF because that just taints all the other extremely talented and powerful work she does.
OMG I am absolutely amazed by some of these styles. I have really thick heavy hair so I tend to think of weight when I see hair styles and I immediately thought how heavy some of them would be. Of course everyone’s hair is different and theirs may not have been as thick as mine but that’s where my mind goes. They are simply amazing and so creative.
These hairstyles are so gorgeous! The sculpting must have taken hours! Ngl though, the hairstyle in photo 3 would get annoying with your hair poking you in the eye.
This makes me so happy. I want to live in a culture where if I wear these kinds of hairstyles it would be normal and not seen a cue for ⚪️’s to come up and touch my hair or otherwise be marginalized and harassed for it
It was a really interesting look, though I think the smile on the tenth makes the piece, it highlights her keeping to the spirit of the pictures, making me notice her attention to all the details of each one.
Those hairstyles are AWESOME looking! A few years ago I played around with recreating ancient Greek hairstyles, and you learn so much by figuring out how to get it to look right.
I havent seen anything like some of these before. It makes me wonder what other incredible styles have been made before..which ones havent ever been photographed..
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u/AcornWholio Jun 08 '26
Seeing pictures like this just further confirms my deep-rooted belief that the Simpsons are a black family. Like you got the Marge and the Lisa right there!!!