Hair Department Head Andrea Mona Bowman on the Importance of Character and Scale for ‘Emancipation’

Character is everything to Andrea Mona Bowman.

Not unlike how a costume designer approaches building a character from the choice of fabric, color, and texture, the Hair Department Head meticulously created hairstyles for the cast of Anton Fuqua’s Emancipation. She took into consideration a slave’s individual journey to get to the moment we witness on screen. For a film as important as Emancipation, I don’t know how you could approach the craft in any other way. You can feel the emotion coming from the screen.

Bowman plunged herself into her research in a way that I haven’t head before. Her desire to do right by these people only fueled her passion for the project. When I asked how many pieces, she made, she chuckled at the mere thought of counting them, because she created so much.

A Louisiana native, Bowman knew that she was going to contend with the heat when the production moved to New Orleans, and she had to ensure she was taking proper care of her actors’ natural hair at the end of every day of shooting. She even shared a story about how an eager, young actor was taken aback by the long days and the gamut of emotions he experienced while filming. The hair trailer became a haven not to just prepare for the day but to decompress after an exhausting experience.

Bowman’s work doesn’t just honor history (she has also worked on Women of the Movement, Lovecraft Country and the upcoming musical adaptation of The Color Purple). It looks forward with respect and signals to not forget the past.

Emancipation is available to stream on Apple TV+.