100% Kanekalon: The Untold Story of the Marginalized Matriarch

The artist Tariqa Waters's first solo exhibition in Seattle is a show that's full of masks and secrets in honor of the Southern women she comes from. The show includes four large photographs, four handmade ladies' church hats in glass cases down the center of the room, four oversize bags of candy-colored hair (Kanekalon brand) that evoke architectural columns, and a sound and sculpture installation. If you feel confused or disconnected looking at 100% Kanekalon, that's how the Marginalized Matriarch of the title feels everywhere but in this room, says Serenity Wise, NAAM's community engagement director. The Untold Story, in the museum's intro text, is described as "a story that exists in the margins... It remains in the margins because it shouldn't be understood by everyone." JG