Hackney (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Hackney Museum’s “Stories Woven in Strands” display spotlights RISE.365’s “Hairmoji” campaign, demanding better emoji representation of afro and textured hair.
A community interest organization called Rise.365 is established in Hackney and works to improve the lives of young people and the neighborhood.
To draw attention to the restricted selection of black hairstyles available on Emoji, the organization partnered with the cosmetics company Dove.
Stories Woven In Strands: Texturism and the battle for hair representation is a free exhibition at the Hackney Museum that will be accessible until November 29.
Melissa Stevenson, Hackney Museum assistant, told East London Lines:
“Rise.365 is a very self sufficient group of young people.”
A local math teacher was intrigued by the campaign and included Rise.365’s emoji-inspired figures into her students’ workbooks.
She encouraged people to support Hairmoji and acknowledged their hard work.
The iPhone has four thousand emojis, but none of them depict black or mixed hairstyles.
The four completed emojis consist of some popular hairstyles among black and mixed people: afro, cornrows, locs, and braids.
Rise.365 has a proposal for the Unicode Consortium, an organisation that reviews and approves emojis, stating:
“We are calling on Unicode Consortium to include these emojis in the standard set as doing so would not only represent black and mixed race people accurately but also educate individuals globally about the beautiful diversity of black culture and hairstyles.”
Rhianna Jones, a freelance writer based in New York, gathered more than 70,000 signatures on her #AfroHairMatters initiative in a prior attempt six years ago.
Regardless of its popularity, the Unicode Consortium rejected Jones’s concept for “afromoji” and “dreadmoji,” telling her that “the curly hair emoji was designed to reflect a variety of hairstyles.”
Beginning on November 29, the Hackney Museum will close for renovations aimed at improving its educational offerings and public areas.
How has the local community responded to the Hairmoji campaign so far?
The community has responded veritably appreciatively to the Hairmoji crusade displayed at Hackney Museum. The crusade has sparked exchanges around hair texture diversity and representation, with numerous saluting its emphasis on empowering young people and addressing hair demarcation.
Community members, activists, and youth have expressed enthusiasm for the crusade’s focus on visibility and addition of Afro and textured hair in digital culture, which they see as a vital step in promoting pride in natural hair and grueling conceptions.
The crusade has also gained support from original associations and seminaries that see it as an important tool for promoting tone acceptance and diversity among youth.
