St. Clair Detrick-Jules

Every year we try and expand the palette of the festival a little, and this year we’re excited to present a couple of events highlighting photo-journalism. The first of these features St. Clair Detrick-Jules, an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, author, and activist. We’re excited to welcome St. Clair to Columbia to discuss her book, My Beautiful Black Hair: 101 Natural Hair Stories from the Sisterhood.

My Beautiful Black Hair features one hundred and one Black women sharing their stories of learning to love their natural hair and the immense power in that self-love. The stories reveal both the depth of the physical and emotional damage done to many women by relaxing their hair and trying to make it look "acceptable," and the incredible resilience, self-love, and acceptance they gained by learning to embrace their hair and free themselves from Eurocentric beauty standards. Accompanied by beautiful and intimate photographs of each woman, the book is an encouraging voice for young Black women and the adults who remember their own journeys to self-acceptance.

An Afro-Caribbean artist who remains rooted in her community, St. Clair Detrick-Jules grounds her work in radical love, joy and the knowledge that a more just world is possible. She has a BA from Brown University in French and Francophone Studies. She has been featured in The Washington Post,Washingtonian Magazine, BuzzFeed News, Allure Magazine, Byrdie, and NPR's Strange Fruit, among others. Her book My Beautiful Black Hair: 101 Natural Hair Stories from the Sisterhood showcases the photographs and stories of Black women embracing their crowns. St. Clair currently resides in her hometown of Washington, DC.