Laetitia Ky レティシア・キイ

Growing up in Ivory Coast, Laetitia Ky’s sense of self was influenced by a colonial history that carried particular ideals of beauty, skin tone, and hair texture: straightened hair and lighter skin were viewed as desirable, representing success and beauty. Ky watched women in her family bleach their skin, and experienced hair-relaxing sessions that left her scalp burning. But when she was 16, a chemical treatment gone wrong destroyed her already chemically-processed hair, and most of it fell out. Searching for ways to grow it back, she discovered the natural hair community in the US and began to question why she had felt the need to change herself in the first place. She decided to shave her head and start over.

Learning to love her hair’s natural texture took time, however; she had to retrain her mind to accept a texture that society hadn’t always celebrated. Then she stumbled upon a photo album showcasing the stunning hairstyles of African women from the pre-colonial era: sculptural, intricate, and abstract, like works of art. Digging further, Ky learned that
in pre-colonial societies hair was a profound form of expression and communication. Each hairstyle told a story about a person’s identity, marital status, or profession. This made her realize just how powerful the very thing she had been trying to erase was. What started as a personal journey toward self-acceptance turned into an artistic exploration, as she began sculpting her hair into shapes that tell stories of self-expression and cultural pride.