CROWNS & ORNAMENTS

Crowns & Ornaments (2023) is an artistic acknowledgment of the CROWN act, which prohibits discrimination based on hair texture and style. CROWN is an acronym meaning “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair.” The black community, primarily black women and girls, who choose to wear cultural hairstyles such as braids, locs, afros, twists, and natural hair, are faced with discrimination in K-12 schools and workplaces across the U.S. Although the word, ornament is often associated with a holiday, specifically Christmas, in this research, I derived my definition from the noun meaning “a quality or person adding grace, beauty, or honor to something”(Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 1828), and its verb meaning “ to make (something) look more attractive by adding decorative items”(Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 1828). Crowns & Ornaments is the celebration of our melanin, our hair, our culture, our decoration, our identity, and our fashion and art.