Raven Holloway
A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Raven Holloway holds the future of Black hair and Black haircare at her fingertips. When not using those fingers to craft a beautiful braid or twist a luscious kink, Holloway is teaching her community the history, culture and science of hair, past and present. Holloway is highly interested and dedicated to learning about the hair of people who are a descendant of Africa, in particular, the coils and kinks, that shape the cultural traditions of hair. She is interested in keeping the tradition alive in the community. She’s a diligent and personable individual who accepts and enjoys the responsibility of being a role model for others and leading by doing, inside, outside or around the salon chair.
Awarded Grants
2018
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
Related grantees
Overview
Woven Strands is a three-month workshop series that will teach participants to braid natural hair as a means of promoting knowledge of natural hair, empowering girls and women to investigate their identity and curating intentional community. Raven and Sonja believe that hair holds cultural, social, biological, and therefore artistic significance. From July through September, they will facilitate braiding and hair maintenance workshops, while teaching how hair functions as an act of economic liberation. Raven, Sonja and the participants of Woven Strands will create hair art, textiles like mud cloth, self-portraiture and other mediums of expression and affirmation. The series will culminate in exhibition that showcases the power, strength and beauty in black women and girls through the natural hair movement.