Golden Beauty at DesignTO

Golden Beauty is a curatorial and installation project by Ehiko Odeh that draws from the legacy of the West Indian Barber & Beauty Supply Corporation at 860 Bathurst Street in Toronto—a long-standing cultural hub serving Black, Caribbean, and African communities since the 1970s.

The project reflects on beauty practices within the Black community, the politics of representation around melanated hair, and the intimate social spaces created through haircare, grooming, and care work. Rooted in research and lived experience, the work traces how hair becomes a site of connection, vulnerability, and cultural memory.

For this iteration, the installation reimagines the Golden Beauty Supply experience as an expanded exhibition space, incorporating sculptural and painting interventions alongside archival materials such as 1970s-era beauty supplies and advertisements. Visitors are invited into an immersive environment that blurs the line between gallery, salon, and social space where interaction, reflection, and visibility intersect.

IbifiriWari served as Co-curator, supporting the conceptual framing, curatorial development, and presentation of the project in collaboration with the artist and curatorial partners.