Solange's video for "Don't Touch My Hair," co-directed by the artist herself and her husband Alan Ferguson, is a series of stunning, immaculately styled and choreographed tableaux featuring uniformly dressed black people. Solange cited the work of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, a British-Ghanian painter who was shortlisted for the 2013 Turner Prize, as an influence on her new album A Seat At The Table. As Twitter user @joshjenks and W Magazine have pointed out, the video for "Don't Touch My Hair" resembles Yiadom-Boakye's work.
Yiadom-Boakye's portraiture has been shown across the United States and Europe. Her rough, sketch-like brushes are one of the signature elements of her style — a deliberate choice, she has said, to "make people intelligible through paint." The video for "Don't Touch My Hair" aims for a more traditional majesty, with cinematography that's part Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and part Fashion Week. Take a look at some comparisons below.
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Complication, 2013, oil on canvas, 200 x 250 cms
Courtesy of the artist, Corvi Mora, London and Jack Shaman Gallery, New York
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The Hours Behind You, 2011, oil on canvas, 98 3/8 x 118 1/8 inches
Courtesy of the artist, Corvi Mora, London and Jack Shaman Gallery, New York
Saint/Columbia
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YouTube
Courtesy of the artist, Corvi Mora, London and Jack Shaman Gallery, New York
