A barber’s chair sits in The Gallery at the Austin Central Library. The leather is creased and worn. Stuffing pokes out from one corner of the seat. An ashtray on the armrest reveals its age.
A 5-foot-tall photograph of Kevin Asberry looking through the window of Marshall’s Barber Shop hangs on the wall behind it. The photo is one of about a dozen in the new “Holding Spaces” exhibit.
“He’s looking out over the chair,” photographer Steven Hatchett said. “He sees this as a prized possession.”
“The folks that choose to stay, the folks that do the work, and the folks who choose to hold space, they are the lifeblood of the culture here.”
Steven Hatchett, photographer
Hatchett is the cofounder of _OFCOLOR, a nonprofit arts group that promotes the work of underrepresented communities in Austin. In “Holding Spaces,” he makes the case for supporting Black businesses and the community they create to preserve cultural history and combat gentrification.
He’s also hoping to tell a deeper story of resilience and belonging.
“Even though the idea of displacement and folks leaving Austin is a very real thing,” Hatchett said, “the folks that choose to stay, the folks that do the work, and the folks who choose to hold space, they are the lifeblood of the culture here.”
The exhibit includes portraits and stories from RichesArt Gallery, Black Pearl Books, Kicking It ATX and others. It’s on view through March 29, with an opening reception Thursday. There’s also a panel discussion later this month and a community discussion planned for March.
Taylor Danielle Davis, an independent curator and cultural arts producer, helped put the show together.
“There’s been a huge fight to protect cultural spaces, especially in East Austin and the historic Six Square,” she said. “So to hold onto those spaces and to really highlight that they’re here and that they are important, that they’re doing great work, I think that that’s what this project means to me.”
Michael Minasi
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KUT News
Davis said she worked with Hatchett to make the exhibit feel immersive and to bring the businesses into the gallery space. They collected objects — like the barber’s chair — from some of the people featured in the photos: books recommended by Black Pearl, a sneaker from Kickin It ATX.
“All of those little things sort of make this more than just a photo exhibit,” she said. “And that was really exciting to kind of work with [Hatchett] to figure that out.”
A giant vinyl photo of Minnie Little hangs across the room from the barber’s chair. She’s staring into a mirror at her salon, Shag Noir. A baggie in a display case next to the photo contains a lock of curly gray hair — one of Little’s offerings for the show.
“As soon as I picked it up and I held it in my hand. I was, like, this feels very heavy,” said Davis, who asked participants to submit objects that were meaningful to them. “I was like — who’s is this? She said, ‘That’s my grandmother’s hair.’ Very casual about it.”
Another display features handmade wooden spoons belonging to Chi Ndika, the owner of Luv Fats Ice Cream. She said she grew up using similar spoons on trips to Kenya when she was young.
“It’s just something that reminds me of my family and the food that I used to eat when I would go to Kenya,” Ndika said. “It’s part of our culture.”
Ndika said there used to be a lot more Black people in Austin when she was growing up. But since she started her business, she’s built a new community. Her shop is a place to experience joy and meet new people, she said.
A photo in the exhibit shows Ndika smiling from the service window of her former ice cream shop on North Lamar. She was forced to move last year after the rent went up almost $1,000. She’s waiting on permits from the city to open a new brick-and-mortar space in East Austin.
Hatchett said he came up with the idea for the exhibit after hearing stories about the pressure to keep Black-owned businesses open.
“What came out of hearing those stories became sort of a spiritual awakening around the idea of us wanting to hold a space for our humanity in safety and in camaraderie with what it means to be Black in Austin,” he said.
Hatchett, who moved here from Chicago nine years ago, said Black newcomers can feel disconnected in a city until they find community. These Austin business owners want to provide that community.
“I think that’s the most important piece to me,” he said. “If folks can get an eye over the shoulder of one of these entrepreneurs and learn that through the blood, sweat, tears [they’ve developed the] ability to say, ‘I deserve to be here and here’s why.’”
