Origins of the Afro Comb at the Fitzwilliam Museum

The 6,000-year history of the afro comb, its extraordinary impact on cultures worldwide, and community stories relating to hair today are being explored in this new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, England. Material culture on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum includes hundreds of remarkable combs - from pre-dynastic Egypt to modern-day combs referencing the Black Power Movement - as well as associated images and sculpture showing the wide variety of hair styles found in Africa and around the world. 

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Image courtesy of the Fitzwilliam Museum

African Beauty - Photographs by John Kenny

An exhibition of stunning monochrome and colour portraits, on view now at The Africa Centre in London, reveals the vibrant jewellery, delicate body art, beautiful fabrics and intricate hairstyles that decorate traditional peoples from across Africa.
African Beauty illustrates the remarkable ways that people in traditional communities engage with material culture to express their identity. From the fringes of the Sahara to the Great Rift Valley, and south to the arid communities of Angola and Namibia, Kenny’s photographs are an important journey into social status, creativity and sense of identity that lies behind the powerful and unique aesthetic of traditional village life.

Visit The Africa Centre's official website.

Information and images courtesy of The African Centre