FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Pat Verner,

May 2, 2007 Program & Communications Director

MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM’S QUEENS: PORTRAITS OF BLACK WOMEN AND

THEIR FABULOUS HAIR COMING TO CABARRUS ARTS COUNCIL GALLERIES

MAY 21-JULY 6

The Cabarrus Arts Council Galleries will show photographer Michael Cunningham’s Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Fabulous Hair May 21-July 6.

The galleries are located in the Historic Cabarrus Courthouse at 65 Union Street South in Concord. Regular hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The four galleries are also open during special events, including a downtown Concord Art Walk, 6-9 p.m., June 1.

The exhibition explores the unique relationship that black women have with their hair. Photographed on location in the United States, Ghana and London, the collection showcases real hair and fantasy hair, afros, ponytails and dreadlocks.

The show includes 30 24” x 30” black and white prints by Cunningham. Each photograph is accompanied by a panel containing the text of an interview by George Alexander. The photographs and text also are contained in a book published by Doubleday in 2005.

A commercial photographer whose clients include some of the world’s largest corporations, Cunningham received wide praise for his exhibition and book Crowns which showed black women in church hats. He attended Winston-Salem State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and also taught photography at Winston-Salem State. His photographs have been shown in numerous galleries and museums including the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum.

The show will be accompanied by a collection of fantasy hats by Tatiana Rakhmanina of West Virginia, wigs by Veronica Forbes of Harlem, figurative sculptures by Patrick Robertson Crawford of Huntersville, jewelry by Mary Filapek and Lou Ann Townsend of Concord, gourds by Debra Toth and figurative drawings by Ronda Morris of Mount Pleasant.

For more information, please visit www.cabarrusartscouncil.org or call 704-920-ARTS (2787).

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