Digital scan of a sketch from the notebook of Tanekeya Word

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A digital scan (TIFF) of an original watercolor and ink sketch for the series "Supernova Study" from the notebook of Tankeya Word. The sketch is done in black ink on custom marbled paper, washed with watercolors, and depicts an elaborate, Fulani-inspired, futuristic protective hairstyle of a woman with her back to the viewer. She is depicted from the shoulders up with her head and shoulders in blue and purple watercolor against an orange watercolor background. Her hair is parted down the center of her scalp to the nape and arranged into rows of braids or twists. Woven into the center of the hair part is a double five-pointed star shape pattern. The loose ends have been gathered up and styled into two large, round, spoked wheel shapes on either side of her head. The top and bottom spokes on each wheel feature two five-pointed stars twisted into the center of each spoke.

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