From countless pivotal fashion moments to Kardashian cover shoots, Black stripper aesthetics have shaped fashion for decades ...

But can Black aesthetics transcend beauty? Can they be relevant and functional to our liberation? To imagine our self-expression beyond beauty, we must imagine ourselves beyond the systems that ...

Awake’s own work centers on Black aesthetic traditions and histories, drawing inspiration from Poynor and other Black artisans. Among them, Lewis Buckner, who was born a slave in Tennessee in ...