THE ARTISAN SUMMER 2021 • 49
T
iming is everything. Black Lives Matter shifted and impacted our world not only globally as humans but as
an industry. For the fi rst time in Academy Awards history, the world witnessed two African American women
(Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson, along with make-up artist Sergio Lopez-Rivera) take home the Oscar for Best
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a project produced and starring an all-
Black cast led by the incomparable Viola Davis. Like Davis, Aretha Franklin broke barriers and boundaries with her
voice. Franklin was and is the undisputed 'Queen of Soul' whose musical prowess can only be described as one
thing—GENIUS.
A life so lush and rich that those who inhabited Aretha's space over the decades required command and
respect. Marietta Carter-Narcisse and Louisa V. Anthony, the masterful Department Heads Make-Up and
Hair, were appointed with the task of building and constructing the fashionable styles from those decades
for Genius: Aretha. How did it all launch into action? Carter-Narcisse and Anthony reminisce on how they
collectively waded their way through the Genius world of Aretha Franklin.
B Y L O U I S A V . A N T H O N Y & M A R I E T T A C A R T E R - N A R C I S S E
D E P A R T M E N T H E A D S H A I R A N D M A K E U P
All photos by National Geographic/Richard DuCree
GENIUS: ARETHA
BEHINDTHESCENESWITH
