Not a Hair on Your Head will Perish; Heart of a Warrior

by Morgan Tanner

“As a child, each “be quiet” or “settle down” chipped away at my loud, joyful, and expressive self. Over time, I absorbed the implied shame in those words, believing I needed to change myself. Until later in adulthood, I had a revelation—maybe the self-doubt and anxiety I carried wasn’t proof of inadequacy but rather was an indication of a life spent measuring my worth against shifting expectations. What if my value was innate, not earned? The women in my paintings shamelessly flaunt their identities, symbolized by their bold, voluminous hair. Their hair becomes a metaphor for refusing to subdue or tone down any part of themselves. The abstract marks within their hair symbolize the noise of the world’s pressure and expectations. Yet this noise fades into the background as these figures radiate self-assuredness, untethered from external validation.”