You don't really look at a toothbrush and say, "I'm great!" But when you look at an Afro pick, which is a grooming tool, it can remind you in your subconscious to, like, really be proud and, like, "All right."
你不會看著牙膏說:「我很棒!」 但當你看著直梳,一種梳裝工具, 它可以在你的潛意識中提醒你, 要感到驕傲,且「很好」的。
[Small thing.]
〔小東西〕
[Big idea.]
〔大想法〕
An Afro pick is a utilitarian tool used to maintain the Afro hairstyle. I think the Afro pick was designed for the ergonomics of creating something that felt like you were running fingers through your hair. The shape, even the depth that it goes in -- it's like a hand. You have plastic or nylon teeth, and then you have the stainless steel or the nickel teeth. I always prefer the metal tooth just 'cause I like the sound and the ones I know have the black power fist on the handle.
直梳是一種實用的工具, 用來維持「黑人捲」髮型。 我認為直梳的設計 是要以符合人體工學的方式創造出 很像是用手指撥頭髮的感覺。 它的形狀,甚至插入的深度—— 簡直就像一隻手。 梳齒有塑膠的或尼龍的, 還有不鏽鋼或鎳製的梳齒。 我個人向來偏愛金屬的梳齒, 因為我喜歡它的聲音, 且我所知道的這種梳子, 在柄上有個黑人權力的拳頭。
When I think of black hair in America, I think of something that's been policed. Back in the days, it was expected for black people to chemically treat their hair. Whether that's healthy for them is a secondary thing to blending in.
談到美國的黑人髮型時, 我想到的是受到監管。 在過去,大家會期望黑人 對他們的頭髮做化學處理。 融入大家比他們的健康更重要。
In the 50s, dancer Ruth Beckford and a lot of jazz singers were tired of straightening their hair, so they said, all right, we're going to just let it grow naturally and started rocking natural, close-cropped hair. And in the 60s, that style evolved with the formation of the Afro, which was the cropped hair, natural, picked out into a more spherical shape. You had civil rights leaders, activists, that adopted the hairstyle as a means of rebellion and black pride. And then you had musicians like James Brown, who was infamously known for chemically straightening his hair, reject that and go natural. It went hand-in-hand with his music, so he had songs like "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."
五○年代時,舞者露絲 · 貝克福特 及許多爵士歌手 厭倦了把頭髮弄直, 所以,他們說,好, 我們要讓頭髮自然生長, 開始留自然、剪短的頭髮。 六○年代,那種髮型演變 形成了黑人捲, 把剪短的自然頭髮長出來 成為球型。 有民運領導人、活動家 採用這種髮型, 做為反抗的手段,代表黑人驕傲。 接著,詹姆士 · 布朗等音樂家, 過去因為用化學方式 把頭髮弄直而聲名狼藉, 也改走自然路線。 他還有搭配的歌曲, 比如《放聲說, 我是黑人且我很驕傲》。
The black is beautiful movement is just rejecting the notion that to be black or to have darker skin, to have a curlier grade of hair, was something to be ashamed of. I have one of my favorite pictures of my mother and my grandmother, and my grandmother had a small 'fro, and that was in the 60s.
「黑就是美」運動 要對抗的想法是認為擁有黑色 或深色皮膚、有比較捲的頭髮, 是很可恥的。 我很喜歡一張照片, 裡面有我母親和我外婆, 我外婆就留了些微的黑人捲, 那時是六○年代。
African hair combs date back to 3500 BCE. The oldest African combs are found in ancient Egypt and Sudan, so they were making pyramids and combs. The way the ancient African combs were embellished represented status or tribal affiliation. It's no coincidence that the fist on the modern Afro pick also sets the tone for affiliation and what set you claim.
直梳可以追溯到 西元前三千五百年, 最早的直梳出現在古埃及和蘇丹, 他們會打造金字塔和梳子。 古時的直梳有做裝飾, 代表地位或所屬部落聯盟。 現代直梳上的拳頭也有著聯盟 和訴求的意味,這點並非巧合。
And then there's the Black Power movement. Most movements need their icons, right? You have the fist, you have the 'fro. These things coincide with the Black Panther aesthetic, where you could kind of spot your tribe from afar, because you're not just keeping a pick in, like, your beauty kit. It's in your back pocket, purposely with the first outside of it, and in your hair, you'll rock it in your 'fro.
接著還有「黑人權力」運動。 運動通常要有象徵圖像。 比如拳頭和黑人捲的髮型。 它們很符合黑豹黨的美感, 從很遠的地方 就可以發現你的部落, 因為你不只是把梳子 放在比如你的化妝包裡, 它也在你的後口袋裡, 刻意把拳頭露在外面, 也可以放在你的黑人捲髮裡。
If I think about iconic Afros, I definitely think about Angela Davis. Her 'fro personifies elegance, style, freedom, rebellion. You feel all of these feelings at once when you see Angela Davis fighting for her life in federal court.
談到象徵性的黑人捲髮, 我肯定會想到安吉拉 · 戴維斯。 她的黑人捲髮象徵著 優雅、風格、自由、反抗。 看到安吉拉 · 戴維斯在聯邦法庭上 為她的生命而戰, 就能同時感受到這些感覺。
By the 80s, the Afro style became less radical. The Afro picks are still produced to this day with the clenched fist, so it's the remnants of the movement in the everyday object.
到了八○年代,黑人捲髮 不再那麼有激進意味。 至今仍然在生產上面 有緊握拳頭的直梳, 它是黑人運動的遺跡, 留在日常的物品中。
When I was young, it was just, like, another object. It was a comb. But as I became more enlightened to really understand the roots and the origin and the intentionality of the design and why the fist and all of these things ... I woke up.
我年輕時,只覺得 它是種普通的物品。 就是把梳子。 但當我有更多知識, 真正了解它的根源和起源、 設計的目的, 及為什麼會有拳頭及這一切…… 我便覺醒了。