Sherese Francis

Laws of Tignon (Met Tet), 2022

Digital Video
Spoken Word/Performance Art
17 min
NFS

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Artist Statement

Laws of Tignon (Met Tet) is a poetry/ritual performance film inspired by the 18th century Tignon Laws of Louisiana that forced Black women to cover their hair in public in order not to attract White men. Looking up the roots of the word Tignon, and inspired by Black women's ingenuity and self-affirmation in creating fashions with the head coverings, I created a list of affirmations that I recite while doing a hair care ritual.

About The Artist

Sherese Francis is an Alkymist of the I-Magination and expresses her(e)self through poetry, interdisciplinary arts, workshop facilitation, editing, and literary curation. Some of her(e) work has been published in Furious Flower, Obsidian Lit, Rootwork Journal, Spoken Black Girl, The Operating System, Cosmonauts Avenue, No Dear, Apex Magazine, Bone Bouquet, African Voices, Newtown Literary, and Free Verse. Additionally, Sherese has published three chapbooks, Lucy’s Bone Scrolls (Three Legged Elephant), Variations on Sett/ling Seed/ling (Harlequin Creature), and Recycling a Why That Rules Over My Sacred Sight (DoubleCross Press). Besides publications, Sherese has had her(e) work featured in various exhibitions and showcases from The Lit Exhibit, NY Live Arts, Queens Public Library, York College Arts Gallery, King Manor Museum, WorksOnWater, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Jamaica Flux, Baxter St Camera Club, Bliss On Bliss, Maleza Proyectos, The Rubenstein Art Center and Ely Center for Contemporary Art. Currently, Sherese is the poetry editor of Newtown Literary and curates the Queens-based literary and mobile library project, J. Expressions.

Learn more: https://linktr.ee/sheresefrancis