https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/files/original/9429a53a6689f1a0adc47bba159701f7.jpg 02caa973c92ab952215e7df2b4eec7c6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Valerie Tiscareno: La Corteza Alternative Title An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific. Woman faces down with hair partially down and a part braided with a blue ribbon. Hairbrush covers upper half of face. https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/files/original/58fd640c3689a6057b8e3f00151d4c68.jpg fc9c824b7ab40645abf1d4aaa8347743 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Valerie Tiscareno: La Corteza Alternative Title An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific. Two girls lay with hair braided together with ribbons in hair. https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/files/original/e3f1953be59a5292831dd11c768f6b8d.jpg 5526256e7143e6d38bab0950508ec49c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Valerie Tiscareno: La Corteza Alternative Title An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific. Woman stands with face covered by natural, curly hair. https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/files/original/3565c69791ff72a51fa2d4a3c3e27087.jpg 5200f04ff4ba1171d46769bdcb0d37f9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Valerie Tiscareno: La Corteza Alternative Title An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific. Hair frames tattoo of woman praying; hair is half braided with ribbon and half straight. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource La Corteza Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tiscareno, Valerie Abstract A summary of the resource. Translates meaning “rind” or “outer layer.” Hair serves as our rind. Throughout this project I explore the dual role hair plays within young Latina women’s lives. Hair acts as both protection and vulnerability, resistance and assimilation. La Corteza, examines the cultural and emotional weight that we carry in each strand. For many Latinas, hair is an identifier, its texture, color, and length are often points of personal tension. In the United States, Latinas often are pressured to favor Eurocentric beauty standards as means to assimilate. Hair becomes more than appearance but a political act. Where braiding emerges as a meaningful performance of powerful assertion of cultural continuity, resisting erasure and reclaiming visibility. When invisibility can often feel safer than standing out, these decisions reflect the silent strategies of survival, self-preservation, and resistance. Throughout the making of La Corteza, I interviewed and photographed my participants: “My hair is typically the only physical mark.” “When I started embracing my hair is when I felt the most comfortable in my identity.” “My earliest memory with my hair was asking my mom to style it for me. This was the beginning of an obsession with neatness, which could never be synonymous with natural” “Being Latin American means balancing both identities... I know I’m both, and I know I’ll never fully be one—and that’s okay.” These reflections speak to the layered and sometimes painful process of reclaiming culture on our own terms. La Corteza lives in that delicate space between concealment and connection. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2026