The Natural Hair Symposium
Terresa Hardaway, a professor of graphic design and Project Naptural creator, had a poster exhibition and symposium centered around natural hair this summer. "The Natural Hair Symposium: Celebrating the Beauty of Naptural Hair" was a community-wide event focused on empowering Black women to choose to wear their hair natural as opposed to chemically treated alternatives.
Generous sponsors, Community Action Duluth, Zeitgeist, Blackbird Revolt, and Taliah Waajid, made the event free to the public. The event included the poster exhibition, hair butter demos, head scarf demos, hair talks, panel discussions, goody bags, and giveaways.Â
About Project Naptural
Project Naptural (nappy+natural) is the result of a design research thesis that studies in what ways design can assist in overcoming the negative perceptions Black women come to know about their naturally afro-textured hair. Project Naptural is an initiative for awareness, connection and the overall empowerment of Black women with naptural hair. This cultural issue has been brought to the forefront with the Natural Hair Movement (not just a fashion trend) and combined with primary research (interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc.), Terresa Hardaway, MFA has found a need for free knowledge about the many aspects of caring for and styling Black naptural hair. She has created a connective system in which this free knowledge may exist and empower Black women to live life napturally in both a physical space (The Nap Network 1.0: The Art Exhibition) and coming soon to a cyber space (The Nap Network 2.0: The Mobile Application).