Flo Jo World Record Nails - March 27, 2017
Making art can be like spring training. We talkin bout practice & praxis. I spent an Olympic summer hand-painting thousands of acrylic fingernails, one by one. I made the nails fly off of a scale model of a racetrack, starting on the curve and ending on the home straight. I could identify with the experience of excelling in my work while also being told that I didn't have the right "look" for the job. It happens to black women all the time. Flo Jo owned her look like regalia, bringing a flawless slay. This is the kind of exuberant display of Black Excellence on an international stage that I want to celebrate, which is why I dedicated so much time to this work. She set a record that she still holds and looked great while doing it in this #iconic manicure.