Artist seeks to spark dialogue through portraits of white women with black styles
It isn’t often that you see a professional white woman with fingerwaves.
But that’s exactly what you will see in Photographer Endia Beal’s latest work, “Can I Touch It?”
The young black creative took several middle-aged white women to a black salon and gave them a “black hairdo.”
Although photographer Endia Beal laughs freely while discussing “Can I Touch It?” the point of the series that she worked on this summer during a five-week residency with the Center for Photography at Woodstock isn’t about getting laughs. The rules were simple: After getting their new styles, the women had to agree to be photographed in a traditional corporate portrait, even if they weren’t happy with the result.
Beal chose women who were in their 40s, aiming mostly for baby boomers. “I wanted people that had a certain idea of what you’re supposed to look like in the workplace, because it would be a challenge for them to understand what I experienced in that space.” she told Gawker.
With “Can I touch It?,” Beal hopes to foster a dialogue about self expression and the corporate environment.
Thoughts on the photos?
The project and its purpose?
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