By Patrice Wilson

Nadia Meadows is a creative powerhouse. The ASC Cultural Vision Grant recipient and Durham, North Carolina, native is a sculptor and visionary whose art and impact have found a welcomed home in Charlotte’s dynamic creative scene.

Since moving to the Queen City in 2017 to study sculpting at UNC Charlotte, Meadows has immersed herself in the local art scene – in fact, she regards Charlotte as a city of opportunities with more “jumping off points” than any place else.

After receiving her BFA in 2020, Meadows found inspiration amid isolation. Desiring to create during the pandemic, Meadows channeled her personal frustrations about how society has treated Black hair into narrative art.

“Every time I changed my hair it would be a big deal, like, ‘Oh you changed your hair?’ Yes, I did have long straight hair last week and this week I got short and curly hair,” Meadows recalled.

She found herself torn between styling her hair in more “acceptable” ways to avoid critique and challenging why her personal hairstyling choices deserved critique at all.

“What is acceptable? Why can’t I have it if it isn’t interfering with my work?” Meadows reflected.

Meadows’ Cultural Vision Grant supported her showpiece “Subtle Oppression,” a fully interactive piece developed during her three-week residency in 2021 at Goodyear Arts and currently on exhibit at The Mint Museum. She used the $2,000 grant to purchase 90% of the hair used for the piece.

“I used five to seven packs of hair per panel and each pack cost $10-$12 dollars a pack. That is a testament on how much money we spend on hair from moisturizer, combs, dimming brushes, color, etc.,” Meadows said.

The artwork is composed of square panels of human hair, each manipulated to create texture and design and narrate experiences previously untold. Each unique panel references Black cultural moments. The piece invites unsuspecting viewers to unknowingly participate in oppression by first placing the art where one wouldn’t expect art to be – on the floor. Once the unsuspecting viewer steps on the panels, they recreate the subtle oppression that Black people have felt; the process is replicated through the artwork in a way Meadows said, “doesn’t happen all at once, [people] walking on it slowly, degrading it subtly every day, a wearing.”

Additionally, each panel is textured differently, giving the viewer permission to touch the hair. “There’s a wave panel that feels how the hair would [feel] after getting wet,” Meadows said.

Meadows’ work sparks necessary conversations about Black American experiences and challenges that continue to oppress their agency, sense of place and authentic expression of self that have been historically overlooked.  

“Everyone has a hair story. Hair can weigh on self-confidence and is a big part of how we move and experience the world,” said Meadows, who would like her piece to validate Black hair experience and give a voice to those that have been silenced by subtle oppression.