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I was born on the Ivory Coast, in the city of Abidjan.
Courtesy of Laetitia Ky
[West Africa is] still deeply impacted by colonization, even though we’re independent now.
Growing up, thedollsI had were all white and had straight hair.
I would remove it and buy extensions at the markets and sew them in.
Ky serves as artist, model, and photographer for her sculptural work.
I first got myhair relaxedwhen I was five years old; it was the norm.
When I went into middle school, I was forced to shave my head completely.
After I got my high school degree, I went to school for business management.
To manipulate hair into shapes, Ky wraps hair extensions over wire.
But three years in, I told my mom I couldn’t continue.
Ky serves as artist, model, and photographer for her sculptural work.
I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I just knew that I wanted to create.
She told me to take a year off to think about it, that she would support me.
It was a very important year, because I realized I could also do that.
I just didn’t know what kind of content I would create.
I was following a lot of accounts promoting the beauty of Black hair.
I was completely blown away by their hairstyles.
They were like sculptures: huge, abstract, geometrical.
I felt [inspired] to do some experimentation.
I made a long, braided extension, like a straight line on top of my head.
I posted it and my friends and family were completely impressed.
That’s when I thought maybe this was something I could do.
To manipulate hair into shapes, Ky wraps hair extensions over wire.
I realized I could use wire to bend the hair.
I was doing very simple shapes, like circles.
But I tried to push the complexity every time.
At the beginning, it was just for the aesthetic.
I was doing a shape just because it was cool visually.
Until one day, I didthis photo storywhere I shaped my hair as a second pair of hands.
And for the first time, my picture went completely viral.
I woke up to thousands and thousands of followers.
I realized that my hairstyles could really mean something.
That’s exactly when I decided to associate my personal beliefs with my art.
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The first feminist sculpture I did [with hair] was to support #MeToo.
It was of a man lifting a woman’s skirt.
I got a lot of messages from women sharing their personal stories.
For a lot of them, I was the first person they were telling.
I did [another] where I shaped my hair asa woman’s breasts.
They believe that if she grows breasts, she will attract boys.
So a lot of young girls are ashamed of their breasts.
In this post, I was saying that I was ashamed before, but now I’m proud.
I grew up in a very patriarchal society.
Now it’s changing; it’s evolving.
Butgrowing up, rape was normal.
Domestic violence was normal.
I think real creativity [happens] when we fully accept ourselves and we are not ashamed of anything.
As told to Dianna Mazzone
This story originally appeared in the November 2022 issue of Allure.
