Jade Lönnqvist, Untitled, 2021
Jade Lönnqvist is a freelance illustrator and a graphic designer based in Helsinki.
I personally don’t like to be touched so I rarely get my hair done. I wanted to capture that moment of how it feels for me in the first hour of braiding since I can’t quite put it into words. There’s anxiety but also excitement. A feeling of foreignness but also of belonging, warmth and kinship. It’s ordinary and also a special occasion. The piece is inspired by the Good Hair Day community, as well as the specific memory of a dear friend giving me my first box braids ever. Style-wise, the piece draws heavy inspiration from the 90s, with comic book inspired inking style and nostalgic colours and patterns. The image was created digitally on the app Procreate.
I did the work improvising it along the way during spring and summer 2021. The picture resembles a message or a notice board. There are small bits of drawing/painting/text done on a piece of paper that I had with me for some months in my backpack. I liked the idea that the image and the paper have aged - that the passing of time has left its marks on the work.
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I personally don’t like to be touched so I rarely get my hair done. I wanted to capture that moment of how it feels for me in the first hour of braiding since I can’t quite put it into words. There’s anxiety but also excitement. A feeling of foreignness but also of belonging, warmth and kinship. It’s ordinary and also a special occasion.
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