Vibrant, Beaded Portraits by Felandus Thames Honor Memories and the Black Diaspora

Vibrant, Beaded Portraits by Felandus Thames Honor Memories and the Black Diaspora

From thousands of colorful hair beads, Felandus Thames conjures vibrant patterns and portraits. He takes historical photographs as a starting point, focusing especially on Black and Indigenous figures whose stories have largely been underrepresented in American historical narrative. These include dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey and Amos Haskins, a 19th-century Wampanoag man who became a master mariner—one of the few Indigenous people to do …