MONTREAL – The journey of Esther “Queen Esie” Calixte-Bea from a shy girl, fearing that others will notice her hair, to a cover of Glamor magazine, to present the artist in a solo exhibition in a gallery of Montreal, ended this week.

His exhibition “Creation of an Ethereal World” was launched at La Centrale gallery in the Plateau borough and celebrates his hair activism in touches of vibrant color and ethereal natural fantasy imagery.

“It’s about entering a world where women can be themselves, women can be hairy, and obviously they’re black women like me, so it’s really about acceptance and healing,” she declared.

La Centrale’s programming and technical coordinator, My-Van Dam, said Calixte-Bea’s work fits perfectly with the gallery’s focus on promoting feminism and working from a perspective. unique.

“Esther really responds not only to the BIPOC community, but also to being able to have a feminist discourse and able to have more diversity and a different body type,” said Dam, who was part of the jury that chose Calixte-Bea . job.

The Montreal South Shore model and artist was one of 10 covers for Glamor UK’s Self-Love issue in January where she was pictured in a blue jumpsuit cropped to accentuate the hair on her chest and legs.

Calixte-Bea’s family comes from the Wè tribe from the western forests of Côte d’Ivoire. She learned from talking to her extended family that body hair activism would be far from out of place in her traditional territory.

“My aunt from Ivory Coast told me that in my tribe, the women are very hairy and that the hair was seen as something beautiful at the time of my great-grandmother,” he said. she declared. “It was only normal for women to be very hairy.”

Inspired by this story, Calixte-Bea created her own group where women can kiss their bodies regardless of hair or other features deemed undesirable by mainstream ideas of female beauty.

“Beauty standards are always changing and creating something out of my imagination is always helpful,” she said.

“It’s not something we’re talking about. It should be standardized, but unfortunately it still isn’t,” said acrylic painter and photographer Stella Mazurek. “All bodies have hair, that’s the reality of the body.”

“That’s what she really brings to your attention: that you are shocked, but you shouldn’t be,” said Mattia Zylak, administration and finance coordinator at La Centrale. “It’s really cool that not only does she draw your attention to these things, but she does it in such a fantastic and colorful way that draws you in.”

The show runs until October 28.

Calixte-Bea hopes others, who may have struggled with the insecurities she had when she was younger, can see her work and find solace or inspiration.

“Seeing hairy women in positions of power, but also just alive, is something that is really important in my work,” she said.