With or Without Magical Duty

Gesturing towards the tension between expectation and choice, between perceived roles and personal agency, With or Without Magical Duty brings together a selection of works by the Dominican artist Lizette Nin that regard hair and, in particular, the cultural significance of Black women’s hair.

Through a variety of different media – including video, drawing, printmaking and sculpture – Lizette examines how hair can operate as a site of memory, identity, and resistance. Collectively, these works highlight the personal histories, symbolism, and communal rituals that connect Black hair traditions to Black histories.

Video

In her video Bajar con Trenzas, Lizette draws from the intimate rituals of hair braiding to explore Black identity, beauty, and community. The title of the video, Dominican slang for braiding one’s hair, carries layers of meaning that evoke pride, self-presentation, and a sense of belonging.

The exhibition pivots around this video work, which features Lizette alongside two other Black women (Agnes Essonti Luque and Sadia Wales) as they braid each other’s hair and share personal stories. Here, Lizette demonstrates that braiding, and the act of braiding, is about much more than adornment. It is an inherited practice, passed through generations; it strengthens bonds and reaffirms community. In the video, through their shared actions and conversations, the women reveal how hair becomes a site of memory; how it shapes their identities, histories, connections to home, and to each other.

With this work, Lizette revisits the gaze imposed by colonial-era photography, particularly portraits of Black women taken without their consent – stolen images used to portray the “other”. In doing so, she offers a counterpoint to that history, positioning Black hair and beauty care as acts of agency and cultural affirmation.

Printmaking

Alongside Bajar con Trenzas, Lizette Nin presents a series of other works that reflect on the cultural and symbolic significance of hair. Two matching prints, Keep Seeds in Hair (Remastered), depict plants growing out of braids – in reference to the seeds carried in the hair of enslaved peoples as vital lifelines to preserve their homelands’ plants and foods. These images speak to the resilience and adaptability of displaced cultures, where growth becomes both literal and metaphorical.

Drawings

A new series of drawings, Hair Landscapes, articulates the parallels between the repetition of braiding and the act of drawing. These meditative pieces explore the traces left by hair, not only as remnants of human existence but also as symbols interwoven with histories of ritual and endurance.

Sculpture

Completing the exhibition, the sculptural work Jewels of the Crown incorporates elements of Lizette’s own hair. The piece examines the layered meanings of ‘crown,’ from the symbol of colonial power to the everyday majesty of Black womanhood.

By questioning the dominance of Western beauty standards and emphasising the richness and diversity of Black hair, Lizette’s work reclaims space for Black women’s narratives and aesthetics. Thus asking the audience to rebuke narrow definitions of beauty and recognise the cultural significance of Black hair care traditions. Through this exploration, With or Without Magical Duty reflects on the tension between societal expectations and personal agency, asserting Lizette’s right to embrace, reject, or redefine these roles on her own terms.

Artist & Curator