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Documenting attendees of the Afro Hair and Beauty Show at Alexandra Palace between 1998 and 2003
From the late 1990s to early 2000s, Perrier photographed attendees of the annual Afro Hair and Beauty Show at Alexandra Palace, a major annual event celebrating African and Caribbean hair culture. The images above, taken in 1998, are some of the earliest in the series and are cared for as part of Autograph's collection.
Using improvised backdrops – from a hoarding on a double-decker bus to murals featuring peacocks – these now-iconic images captured the event’s effervescent atmosphere, showcasing a variety of hairstyles as expressions of empowerment, resistance and cultural pride.
For Perrier this series was deeply personal: “Growing up, my hair was often styled in cornrows or wrapped in black cotton thread — a traditional West African hairstyle. Over the years I experimented with long braids and then wigs in my late teens, before eventually shaving my head at university and later locking my hair.”
Afro Hair and Beauty Show highlights the self-expressive artistry of her sitters. These photographs reflect the importance of hair that Perrier grew up witnessing and has continued to explore as a recurring theme throughout her work.
Eileen Perrier (b.1974, London, UK) is an artist with dual Ghanaian and Dominican diasporic heritage, specialising in portraiture. Since the 1990s, she has been a photographer and senior lecturer in photography.
Her work has been widely exhibited, including Centre Pompidou (France); Hayward Gallery (UK); Tate Britain (UK); The Photographers' Gallery (UK); The Whitechapel Gallery (UK). Perrier was an artist in residence at Light Work x Autograph (USA) and Kunsthalle Schirn (Germany). Her works are represented in private and public collections, including Arts Council England (UK); Autograph (UK); Foundling Museum (UK); Light Work (USA); Sindika Dokolo Foundation (Angola); Tate (UK); and Wedge Collection (Canada).
These photographs are in Autograph's permanent collection of photography, where they have been conserved and digitised
These works were included in Eileen Perrier's Monograph, published by Autograph in 1998 and in Shining Lights: Black Women Photographers in 1980s–90s Britain, co-published by Autograph and MACK in 2024
Autograph featured these portraits in the 2017 exhibition In A Different Light, and are part of the artist's current retrospective, A Thousand Small Stories
17 Apr - 13 Sep 2025
Free exhibition
Purchased by Autograph, London with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2016
Banner images: Eileen Perrier, from the series Afro Hair and Beauty Show, 1998-2003. © and courtesy the artist.
About the artist: Courtesy Eileen Perrier.
Part of the exhibition image: Eileen Perrier, from the series Ghana [detail], 1995-96. © and courtesy the artist.
Autograph is a place to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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