“The barbershop really acts as a common ground and forum for discussion in our communities,” says creative director and stylist Marcus Correa. His latest project, Cut Deep, celebrates Latino/Latinx cultures and communities through the aesthetic of the classic barbershop poster. “There are so many different identities and subcultures that make up our neighbourhoods but everyone has to get a haircut. It is a collective space of individual self-expression and solidarity.”
Created in collaboration with photographer Carlos Jaramillo, Cut Deep documents the rich diversity of the community, capturing portraits of 30 people, both old friends of Correa as well as chance acquaintances, spanning all ages, genders, sexualities, and hairstyles – the fades and braids, the double mohawks, cornrows, and rat tails. Individually striking, together the portraits represent and celebrate the beauty and strength of the collective Latinx communities with all their differences, styles, and personalities.
“I ran a barbershop and salon back home in Denver for several years and I can't think of any other atmospheres where so many different characters come together and can be their uninhibited selves,” says Correa. “I've witnessed some of the most passionate debates and arguments between people that might not interact otherwise.”
Creative direction and styling Marcus Correa, hair Madin Lopez and Project Q, make-up Martha Quintero, grooming Carla PerezPhotography Carlos Jaramillo
The cultural importance of the neighbourhood barbershop as a space for bringing together the community was just one of the reasons Correa settled on the aesthetic for Cut Deep. Growing up, he was always fascinated by the posters he would see in visited barbershops. “They always felt so bizarre yet elegant,” he says. “The styles felt so personal and there were always so many defining characteristics that coincided with the cuts; I was always curious, ‘who are these people?’” Not only that, but, in a mainstream culture dominated by white, Western ideals, it was also one of the few examples of visual representation of POC style Correa saw around him. “That was always such a beautiful thing to me,” he says.
A true community project, Cut Deep was shot at Tlaloc Studios in south central Los Angeles in collaboration with Project Q, a Black and Brown-owned organisation that provides free gender-affirming haircuts, hair colour, and wigs to LGBTQIA+ people dealing with housing insecurities.
Creative direction and styling Marcus Correa, hair Madin Lopez and Project Q, make-up Martha Quintero, grooming Carla PerezPhotography Carlos Jaramillo
“It's really important that every project I create centres around community and that the cast and crew are a reflection of that,” says Correa, who came across Project Q while researching barbers who could carry out his creative vision. After meeting with founder Madin Lopez and Jessica Jean de la Vega, he says he was “floored” by the work they do and the amount of resources and mutual aid the organisation provides. Recognising solidarity in their missions, Correa brought the team into the project and Lopez ended up being shot as one of the portraits in the series, as well as doing the hair on set. “I wanted to have them involved not just as a part of the process but as a part of the story,” as Correa says.
To give back to and pay tribute to the community that inspired the project, the barbershop-style image from the series has been turned into a real life, limited-edition poster that is available to buy. 100 per cent of the proceeds will be donated to Project Q.
CUT DEEP posters are available on the Willy Chavarria site now for a limited time.