Tomesha Faxio's photographs celebrate the beauty of black hair in its most natural state

"I realised after almost ten years of being a lawyer that it wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It wasn't my passion. It was like wearing clothes that didn't fit," she says. "A few years ago, a friend gave me a Canon Rebel T3 camera. After watching a few YouTube videos, I snapped my first pic and fell in love."

Her latest series, Wash Day, is an ongoing documentary photography series capturing a term used by black women to describe the time set aside to detangle, wash, condition and style natural hair. Wash Day celebrates the beauty of black hair in its most natural state while also providing a glimpse into black culture.

"Many of us also had to learn how to love the very same hair that we had been told for so long needed to be altered in order to be beautiful. And now, this knowledge and love are being passed on to our daughters," she continues. "I believe this will have a tremendous impact on the way our children view themselves, their hair, and the world… They will experience more hair freedom."

Though Faxio has clients such as Be The Bridge, Amplio recruiting, Emerging Arts Atlanta or Refuge Coffee Company, she says documentary photography is her favourite.

"I love telling stories and capturing real moments as they happen. As quarantine forced us to stay home, I had the opportunity to give more attention to documentary work. I had time to think about stories that had been on my mind for quite some time. Wash Day is one such story."