This Artist Recreates Pre-Colonial African Hairstyles Using Only Her Own Hair (36 New Pics)

Her fascination with historical African hairstyles began during a deeply personal journey. After abandoning the chemical relaxers she had used since childhood, Ky started reconnecting with her natural hair and searching for representations of Black beauty that challenged the standards she had grown up with. During that process, she discovered an online archive documenting more than one hundred traditional West African hairstyles worn before colonization. The photographs revealed an extraordinary artistic heritage that had rarely been celebrated outside historical collections and inspired her to ask a simple question: What could she create with her own hair?

The answer eventually evolved into one of the internet's most recognizable artistic projects. Working in front of a mirror, Ky sketches her ideas before carefully sculpting her hair into elaborate forms using wire and extensions hidden beneath the surface. Some pieces recreate historical hairstyles once adorned with beads, cowrie shells, and gold ornaments, while others transform her hair into expressive scenes and symbolic objects that address contemporary social issues. The result is an artistic practice that combines historical research, technical innovation, and deeply personal storytelling.

For the artist, revisiting these hairstyles is also a way of preserving cultural memory. Across many African societies, hair was traditionally regarded as one of the most meaningful parts of the body, associated with spirituality, beauty, fertility, strength, and social identity. In some communities, hairstyling was entrusted only to close relatives or respected members of the community because hair was believed to carry spiritual power. By recreating these forgotten designs through a contemporary lens, Ky not only celebrates the extraordinary creativity of African hairstyling traditions but also encourages audiences to reconsider the cultural knowledge woven into every braid, twist, and sculptural form.