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1998

cloth and thread

These delicately crafted pieces in Sonya Clark's "Wig Series" examine ordered structure and symmetry in African American hairstyling culture. These five works are part of a larger series inspired by the Fibonacci sequence of numbers; they are parted into sections of 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8, respectively. As disembodied domes, they underscore the head's spiritual importance-across several African traditions-as the home of the soul.

The title comes from the national motto, "e pluribus unum." Many threads are gathered and wrapped into one vertical form. The antenna-like hairstyle connects the head with the power and guidance of ancestral spirits.

Credit

Purchase, through the Rudolph and Louise Langer Fund