A

AIA CES Credits
AV Office
Abstract Publication
Academic Affairs
Academic Calendar, Columbia University
Academic Calendar, GSAPP
Admissions Office
Advanced Standing Waiver Form
Alumni Board
Alumni Office
Anti-Racism Curriculum Development Award
Architecture Studio Lottery
Assistantships
Avery Library
Avery Review
Avery Shorts

S

STEM Designation
Satisfactory Academic Progress
Scholarships
Skill Trails
Student Affairs
Student Awards
Student Conduct
Student Council (All Programs)
Student Financial Services
Student Health Services at Columbia
Student Organization Handbook
Student Organizations
Student Services Center
Student Services Online (SSOL)
Student Work Online
Studio Culture Policy
Studio Procedures
Summer Workshops
Support GSAPP
Close
This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice Group 6
Arch cookejohn urechioguguo sp21 processionrender

A Saturday Morning Ritual: A Space for Re-Membering

A Saturday Morning Ritual: A Space for Re-Membering” focuses on centering and celebrating black hair, the art of hair braiding and the rituals that it entails. It does this while expanding on the efforts of local art programs such as the BxArts Factory, a Bronx-based art organization that is already doing the work of supporting local artists and making art more accessible to the community. The idea is to combine more contemporary art forms with hair braiding to emphasize how this practice that is very familiar to the memory of the neighborhood is also art. The installation takes place along the very active White Plains Road so that it is highly visible and adjacent to several existing hair shops. It is attached underneath the elevated railway and hovers over a garden on street level. The programs are supported by scaffolding, an often overlooked structural system. The scaffolding is easy to erect and move around, similar to the many open street restaurants that have popped up around New York City which extend dining into public space. Here, the structure extends the daily, weekly, and bi-weekly rituals of hair care into public space. It is also a material that is very familiar to the city as something that is not seen as too precious to touch or feel welcome in. The illustrated rendering shown in this project follows a user’s walk through bits of the installation on an early Spring Saturday (the unofficial, yet globally recognized “hair day” by black girls and women across the world from West Africa to the Caribbean).