Hamilton Does the Dap

SARF fellow LaMont Hamilton studies the aesthetics of the handshake called “the dap”

During the months of August and September, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH) is hosting artist LaMont Hamilton. Hamilton received one of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowships (SARF) to help with the research of his new project, Five on the Black Hand Side.

His project will research the aesthetics of the handshake called “the dap” and other forms of physical communication among African Americans. He began his project in 2012 with a series of oral interviews, but it has since formed into a more comprehensive study of the dap and its place in society.

Hamilton is working with CFCH curator Diana N’Diaye and National Museum of African American History and Culture curator Tuliza Fleming. He is finding that his research is taking him to many different archives of the Smithsonian Institution as well as into the heart of the African American community of Washington DC.

To find out more on LaMont Hamilton visit the CFCH page or go to his website.