"The Evolution of American Culture" Art Exhibit by John Mireles

Our visit to Imperial Grounds Coffee was going to be short...

Our coffee fix was already taken care of. This time, we were here to check out the art exhibit...

The exhibit includes photos of various African & African-American hair picks, selected from the collection of Dr. Willie Morrow, local entrepreneur and the creator of the California curl and designer of the first commercialized Afro pick hair comb. Dr. Morrow is an important figure in the history of black hair care and currently lives in San Diego.


The photographer was John Mireles...


Info from the Imperial Grounds' Facebook page:
"In 1962, noted San Diego hair stylist Willie Morrow introduced the Afro pick to Afro-American culture. Through his photographs of vintage and current combs from the collection of Willie Morrow, artist J Raymond Mireles both documents this history and uses it as a metaphor to illustrate the broader arc of American cultural evolution over the past 50 years.

Because Mr. Morrow first developed, produced and sold the Afro pick comb within the South-Eastern area of San Diego, Mireles will be presenting this work within this historically African-American community, at the Imperial Grounds Coffee shop in Logan Heights."


The hand carved pick below was the first hair pick that Dr. Morrow brought over from Africa.

I wish there were more informational placards to explain the other pick. It would have been cool to know about the difference in the pick designs.






Article:
"Local barber a pioner in black hair care" San Diego Union Tribune, Sept. 19, 2011

"The Evolution of American Culture: The Afro Pick 1962-2016" exhibit by John Mireles
Imperial Grounds Coffee
2920 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA

Opening was on June 17th. As of the publication of this post, the exhibit is still up and running. I'm not sure when it ends.

Video of Willie Morrow from 2011 when his exhibit, "400 Years Without a Comb" was featured at SD City Hall:


Here is a more recent video from this year when his same exhibit was at the Escondido Museum of Art (Feb to March 2016). I'm really bummed that I missed this.


And on the lighter side, a parody of the Jheri curl hairstyle and activator spray from the Eddie Murphy movie, "Coming to America" (1988):


Previous visit to Imperial Grounds Coffee:
"Return to Imperial Grounds + peek into Ms. Vintage" June 2016

Looking forward to more art installations at Imperial Grounds...