Sonya Clark

Provenance

Goya Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore.

The Georgina Jaffee Hair Matters Collection.

Exhibited

Goya Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore, Hair/Goods: An Homage to Madam C J Walker, 14 January to 19 March 2019, illustrated in colour in the exhibition catalogue.

Notes

Sonya Clark is a first-generation African American artist of Caribbean descent, drawing on a lineage of craftsmanship informed by her grandmother, a professional tailor. A highly acclaimed multimedia artist, Clark incorporates everyday hair-care objects – such as wigs, combs, and human hair – into her practice to expose erasures within historical narratives.¹

One such story that Clark brings into visibility is that of Madam C J Walker. Born Sarah Breedlove (1867–1919) shortly after the end of slavery, Walker was the first in her family to be born into emancipation. Orphaned at the age of seven, she later relocated to the southern American state of Mississippi, where she worked as a domestic labourer. As a teenager, she gave birth to her first and only child, A’Lelia (1885-1931). Three years later, following her divorce, Walker moved to St Louis, where she worked for hair-care entrepreneur, Annie Turnbo Malone, selling products for Malone’s Poro Company.²

By the turn of the twentieth century, after relocating to Colorado, Walker established her own hair-care business and developed her signature product, Wonderful Hair Grower. Madam C J Walker was among the first to address hair loss and hair care specifically for black women. Through her company, she became America’s first self-made female millionaire. In doing so, she sought a path out of poverty, challenged prevailing beauty standards and economically empowered more than 20,000 women by the time of her death. Her tenacity is captured in her words: “I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. I was promoted to the Washtub. I was promoted to the Kitchen. I promoted myself to the business of hair…on my own grounds.”³

The present lot is a portrait of Madam C J Walker constructed from Clark’s own hair. The work is based on a 1912 photograph by African American photographer Addison Scurlock.⁴ The use of the artist’s own hair as a medium is a compelling choice. At first glance, the work appears as a trace of Scurlock’s image, however, upon closer inspection the viewer is confronted by the meticulous accumulation of Clark’s hair. Clark’s translation destabilises Scurlock’s image. The hair fragments the fixed image, evoking feelings of discomfort and even disgust. This visceral response directs attention back to the viewers body.

By incorporating her DNA into the work, Clark positions herself as both vessel and witness, implicating herself within this history and taking the viewer along with her. The portrait not only makes visible the history of black hair care but insists on its humanity.

^1. Unknown author (2019), Goya Contemporary, Sonya Clark Hair/Goods: An Homage to Madam C J Walker, exhibition catalogue, online, accessed 11 January 2026.

^2. Unknown author (no date) Smithsonian, Madam C J Walker’s “Wonderful Hair Grower”, online, accessed 22 January 2026.

^3. Unknown author (2019), Goya Contemporary, Sonya Clark Hair/Goods: An Homage to Madam C J Walker, exhibition catalogue, online, accessed 11 January 2026.

^4. Veronica Roberts (2016) Blanton Museum of Art, Madam C J Walker Lives on at the Blanton, online, accessed 22 January 2026.