Kameo Chambers, Mama Always Said Beauty is Pain (installation view)
Kameo Chambers, Split Ends, 2024, Plastic Combs, 138 in x 2.5 in x 101 in
Kameo Chambers, Crown of Thorns, 2024, Plastic Combs, 9 in x 10.5 in x 6.5 in
Stranded, 2024, Plastic Combs, 21 in x 6 in x 24 in
Stranded (detailed), 2024, Plastic Combs, 21 in x 6 in x 24 in
Mama Always Said Beauty is Pain
2024
Comb Installation
Mama Always Said Beauty is Pain is a collection of three assemblages—Crown of Thorns, Split Ends, and Stranded—reclaiming the comb as both an object of memory and a symbol of control. Constructed from broken, melted, fragmented and weaved combs, the works investigate themes of personal and collective experience, confronting the tension between self-care and the policing of Black identity.
For many, the act of combing hair is rooted in care and routine, yet it also carries the weight of cultural stigmas and histories of oppression, where hairstyles like dreadlocks were once criminalized. By deconstructing and reassembling the comb, these sculptures reverse its function: taming the object that once symbolized conformity and restriction.