Colour Me Cultured is a portraiture series presenting young Nigerian women who have adopted unconventional appearances (e.g. unnaturally coloured hair and other body adornments). These women have freed themselves from the generic representations of femininity within the wider discourse of propriety, taking full control of their expressiveness.  

However, their colour choices were inspired by those on the Dutch Wax fabrics (aka Ankara fabrics) now synonymous with West African Culture. So, it becomes somewhat hypocritical to label them ‘uncultured’ or ‘improper’ simply because they are not wearing these prints/colours the conventional way.   

Women should have room for self-expression through experimentation using something as small yet as significant as colour, without feeling the need to conform to society’s acceptance. 


Colour Me Cultured

Sade scrolls through a “Black women, Blonde hair” board on Pinterest, falls in love with the look and buys 3 packs of "colour 27" X-pressions braiding hair to try it out. It's quite the opposite from the usual dark brown "colour 2" her mum says matches her natural hair colour. 
She wants to stand out, even in her usual hairstyle, “Shuku” (cornrowed ponytail hairstyle).

Sade

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