More Than A Barber

Title

More Than A Barber

Format

Video

Subject

This is the story of Ronnie "Right Side" Dents, a 27-year-old New Orleans Native.

Description

Ronnie Dents, a 27-year-old artist, has been doing art since he was a young child. In this interview, he discusses how he has incorporated his art into barbering.

Creator

Kai Wilson

Source

My Nola My Story via Youtube

Publisher

Mass Communications department at Xavier University of Louisiana.

Date

May 9, 2018

Contributor

Ronnie Dents
CFreedom

Rights

My Nola, My Story.

Relation

My Nola, My Story 2018 Exhibit.

Language

English

Type

iMovie, Video

Identifier

https://youtu.be/NAcCrlMwwiA

Coverage

A Digital Humanities project by Xavier University of Louisiana's Mass Communication department students, led by Dr. Shearon Roberts

Original Format

Transcription

-Background Music Starts-

Intro: "This is the story of Ronnie Dents and how his many talents make him much more than a barber."

Kai Wilson (question appears): What part of New Orleans are you from and how did it influence your perspective on art?

Ronnie Dents: Well I moved around a lot. I lived in Hollygrove when I was younger, but I didn’t stay there very long. I spent a lot of time drawing on the porch and stuff like that… after that, I moved to Gentilly… and after the hurricane, I moved to the outside of New Orleans, to Saint Rose. But definitely, the Katrina changing was the biggest thing. The fact that I moved around so much… because I feel like my life trajectory would be all the way different if I had stayed in New Orleans or Katrina didn’t happen.

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): What other skills, talents, or hobbies do you enjoy?

Ronnie Dents: Man, shoot! Cutting hair, painting, rapping, songwriting, dancing, building sets, mural work, glasswork, all type of work, slight work (chuckles). You know what I’m saying, yeah. Everything man, art goes all over the place and I’ve definitely dabbled in a bunch of different areas. I’ve been drawing since I was really young. When the hurricane hit I moved to Saint Rose, Louisiana and that’s where I started bounce dancing. And I was doing that for a good seven years or so… but then I did music in college and I went all over the place with a group of talented individuals and just learned a lot about music. So I’ve jumped all over the place.

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): So how do your skills, talents, and hobbies inspire what you do with hair?

Ronnie Dents: They all the way inspire what I do with hair, it wouldn’t have been unless I started drawing that I would’ve even started cutting hair in the first place. I literally do artworks in people’s hair. So just being able to do the hair wouldn’t be as special to me if I wasn't able to bring it back to how it was on paper or something like that yet.

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): How did this all start? What brought your art to the barbershop?

Ronnie Dents: Well I first started cutting hair when I was like 12 or 13, I just started cutting my own hair and I did friends hair for free at have first, and then charge a little bit, then over time I just got better at it. About two years ago I ended up here and I got this internship program so I’ve been a full-time barber ever since you know.

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): What is your inspiration for these amazing designs?

Ronnie Dents: I just take different shapes that I see. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of stuff with African shapes and Native American shapes.
It has a lot to do with the history of New Orleans...
The collaboration between the Africans that were brought here in slavery, and the native Americans that are already lived here, and that creates the Mardi Gras Indians and it’s a part of the culture that we have and I just like the way they look so I’ve been experimenting with that a lot lately.

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): What do you feel makes you unique as a barber?

Ronnie Dents: I fall in love with whatever style I am doing right now. So right now I’m loving the new stuff that I’ve been doing with the shapes and how I can make them look more three-dimensional, and that’s just been really fun to me so that’s my favorite thing to do right now.

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): What do you feel makes you unique as a barber?

Ronnie Dents: Well I just go, I just take a regular haircut and then I just go further. I feel like all barbers are artists. I just don’t stop once the haircut is just a haircut, I have to make it something more than a haircut, using the lines and shading to create a piece of art. Where hair is already art, but it’s an extreme piece of art.

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): Where can people go to follow your work?

Ronnie Dents: Well they used to call me "Right Side Ronnie". So with that being said, you can follow me everywhere @rightsideronnie, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, I am on there as Ronnie Dents. And Y'all can check me out you know I’m on all the social media’s. You heard me!

Kai Wilson (voice not heard): Do you have any final remarks?

Ronnie Dents: Do you art Y'all. And to all my artists out there, just keep on mastering your craft because when you do or spend time working on whatever you’re working on, you can trade it in for all kinds of stuff, and then it just gets magical at that point. You can enjoy your job. When you can enjoy whatever your job is, it’s a whole nother thing. It’s not just a job is like a career, a lifestyle you know. So do that!

-Credits-
-Background Music Ends-
-Video Ends-

Duration

5:40 (five minutes, forty seconds)

Producer

Kai Wilson

Director

Dr. Shearon Roberts

Files

Ronnie Dents (mscm) .jpg
Date Added
May 4, 2018
Item Type
Moving Image
Tags
, , , , , , , , , ,
Citation
Kai Wilson, “More Than A Barber,” MY NOLA, MY STORY , accessed March 29, 2024, https://xulamasscomm.omeka.net/items/show/57.