02. FACE X Hair: Our Untold Stories Black, Brown, and Asian Hair as Disruptive Pedagogy in Art and Design Education

Published by: Creative Pedagogy

Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Year: 2026

Authors:

Benita Odogwu Atkinson (The Jimmy Choo Academy)

Sharon D. Lloyd (London Metropolitan University)

Davina Hawthorne (De Montfort University)

Max Kandhola (Nottingham Trent University)

Corresponding Author: Davina Hawthorne davina.hawthorne@dmu.ac.uk

Abstract

Within art and design higher education, inclusion is frequently articulated through visibility rather than power, allowing institutional norms of professionalism, assessment and belonging to remain largely intact. This paper argues that moving beyond symbolic representation requires pedagogical structures capable of redistributing authority within teaching and learning. It introduces Exhibition-Led Epistemic Redistribution (ELED) as a transferable framework for embedding equity within curriculum design, assessment conversations and collaborative learning environments.

Drawing on the case study of FACE X Hair: Our Untold Stories a collaborative academic and student exhibition developed in partnership with the Horniman Museum and Gardens (2022) sin, the paper positions Black, Brown and Asian hair as an institutional diagnostic rather than identity representation. UK students and academics produced work examining racialised hair narratives across online and touring exhibition formats. Through this process, hair is treated as an epistemic lens that exposes how creative education regulates bodies, aesthetics and professional legitimacy.

ELED reframes exhibition-making as a learning architecture rather than a final outcome. Through structured processes of curatorial framing, selection, sequencing and collective decision-making, epistemic authority is actively negotiated and redistributed. Artefacts are analysed not as personal testimony but as indicators of institutional function, shifting equity analysis from intention to structural operation. By resisting confessional pedagogy and compulsory autobiographical disclosure, ELED embeds redistribution within academic rigour while maintaining ethical care. In doing so, the framework offers a practical model for reconfiguring power within art and design education.

Keywords: Exhibition-led pedagogy; epistemic redistribution; Black, Brown and Asian hair; institutional power; art and design education.