Blonde Braids

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 large, beaded neckpiece assemblage by Joyce J. Scott. Composed primarily of turquoise, green, and blue beadwork, the necklace forms an irregular, asymmetrical composition made up of five interconnected sections joined by open networks of beads and lengths of braided hair. In the upper right, a yellow-tinted photograph of a person, likely from the early 20th century, is framed by yellow beads, with a length of braided hair suspended below. At the upper left, a face rendered in bronze, brown, white, and blue beads is connected to lengths of braided, light-brown hair. Between these upper sections, an umbrella outlined in white beads appears within the central field of the necklace. At lower left, an image of a toy poodle is framed by yellow beads above the outline of a glove worked in white beads.

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