Creative Writing, Screening, and Conversation: Hair Stories.

This event began with a creative writing session led by Vivian Ngozi Aghamelu. Participants were invited to explore their personal journeys with hair, touching on themes of pain, pride, and ritual. The session encouraged reflection on how hair has often been a site of stigma and trauma, while also serving as a source of healing, intimacy, and shared resistance. Through writing and conversation, participants wove together stories across different identities and histories, approached through an intersectional lens.

The evening concluded with a screening of Hair Stories, a moving short film following three Black women living in Germany as they chose to shave off their Afro hair. Their reflections on childhood memories, imposed beauty standards, and the pressures of the beauty industry were shared with honesty and tenderness. Watching their experiences on screen created a collective space for mourning, affirmation, and empowerment.

The evening offered a reminder of how something often considered ordinary, like hair, can carry deep significance for community, culture, and care.