by A.M. Darke for Open Source Afro Hair Library

I started the Open Source Afro Hair Library (“OSAHL” or “The Library” or “Afro Hair Library”) as part of my art practice in 2019. I own the copyrights to all assets developed for The Library, including the name, logo, and website. I’m retaining these copyrights while–subject to the terms of this document–offering a non-exclusive license for you, an individual human, to use the 3D assets that are explicitly marked as available for download at afrohairlibrary.org. This license may be updated periodically and can be found at afrohairlibrary.org/license.

The purpose of this license is to make the 3D assets developed for Open Source Afro Hair Library available to any person who wants to create loving and authentic depictions of Black people, while protecting our labor, culture, and community from abuse and exploitation. By using The Library, you agree to uphold the values and intentions behind the work as expressed by the following conditions:

No rights, warranties, or guarantees of any kind.

The Open Source Afro Hair Library and all associated assets are provided as-is, without any assurances or warranties provided. All of our models are curated and commissioned specifically for OSAHL and we quality test them before releasing on the site, however, there could be some odd quirk or unintended functionality that we just didn’t catch. You agree to accept what is offered and hold us harmless if and when things don’t work as you’d like.

Please let us know about any bugs or unexpected behavior. Maybe you can even help us test stuff?

Who is the Open Source Afro Hair Library intended for?

I started this work so that Black people could tell our stories without technological limitations or cultural barriers. The Library has been developed by Black, Brown, Asian and Indigenous people to celebrate Black culture. The Library is intended as a gift to the Black community from which everyone can benefit. Think of it like going to a birthday party; the cake is there to celebrate one person, but all of the guests get to partake in cake and other festivities right alongside them (and they often bring gifts – more on that later). When you come to The Library, you’re acknowledging that Black people are worthy of dignity, honor, and celebration – welcome!

You know who doesn’t get cake? Party crashers – folks who show up uninvited, not giving a darn about the celebration and trying to scam their way to free dessert, or worse, folks who show up hoping to ruin the party. No cake for you.

Caretaking the Open Source Afro Hair Library

I see The Library as more than a utility or just a database of free assets. I see it as a beautiful resource and community that I hope to see thrive for generations. However you utilize The Library and the models we create, I hope that you will protect and nurture our space. 

Caretaking can look like many things, but here are a few ideas: Crediting the artists and OSAHL in your work. Promoting the Open Source Afro Hair Library in your personal, public, and/or professional channels. Shouting out the artists whose work you love. Hiring OSAHL artists. Reporting Bugs. Donating money, equipment, and other tangibles. Lending your time and skills to The Library. Using The Library in your classes and workshops. Sponsoring our Fellowship and Artist-in-Residence programs. Press Coverage and Content Creation. Alerting us if our content is being misused or misattributed. Mentoring Black 3D artists. 

None of these are requirements for use, but I hope you’ll be inspired to join us in cultivating and protecting a truly special place.

What can you do with the Open Source Afro Hair Library?

You can download 3D Models from afrohairlibrary.org and use them in your personal and professional projects in any medium, worldwide, in perpetuity. You can adapt them, display them, print them, perform them, create derivative works, so long as the models themselves are incorporated into a larger work, an Original Creation by you or people you are directly working with. Perhaps your K-12 students, your grandma, or your play cousin.

If you are working indirectly with other people, say, using OSAHL 3D Models in an online tutorial, you may direct your audience to download assets directly from afrohairlibrary.org. By doing so, you help support The Library by inviting more people into this thoughtfully curated space.

What uses are Prohibited by the Open Source Afro Hair Library?

Here’s what you can’t do with The Library: You cannot directly distribute OSAHL 3D Models to the public. You cannot recreate The Library itself and/or host the assets created for OSAHL on another site. You cannot upload OSAHL 3D Models to other platforms and marketplaces for the purposes of sale or distribution. You cannot sell or distribute OSAHL 3D Models as-is, nor can modified OSAHL 3D Models be sold or distributed through other platforms or marketplaces. Basically, if your intent is to take free assets from The Library and put them up for resale, that’s not okay. It’s not okay even if you modify the models and sell them for $0.

That would be pretty exploitative, an extreme violation of the spirit and intention of The Library as well as this license.

It’s okay to profit off of your work, but make sure it is your work. Incorporating our models into larger works and original creations is what we call transformative, and we support it. If you are using our models as a starting point for similar 3D models you plan to sell or distribute on their own, the end result should be completely unrecognizable as ever having been an OSAHL 3D Model.

Other prohibited uses. The Library may not be used for the creation, distribution, or promotion of Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Artificial Intelligence (AI) training sets/databases, surveillance systems, the military, law enforcement, and/or forced detainment/incarceration. The Library may not be used by any person or entity working for or on behalf of the military, law enforcement, or carceral institutions where individuals are held against their will and interests, or the will and interests of their guardian(s).

I’m a Black person who wants to tell a complex, authentic, layered story that might critique some aspect of Blackness, or depict Black characters in less than celebratory ways. Can I still use the Library?

Of course!

I’m not Black but I have a lot to say about Black culture and not all of it is good lol, can I use The Library to push the limits of your generosity?

Nope.

I’m a gigantic corporation that doesn’t hire many Black people to begin with, can I use your free library to do stuff?

I believe you’re looking for the Donate button.

I’m an Open Source Software Expert who’s been in the scene since forever and actually, open source is […]

👍🏾

Make art, do good.

It is my hope that you’ll use The Library to make art and do good. “Art” and “good” are both subjective terms, and this gives us the incredible opportunity to actually come together and work through what “good,” “art,” and “good art” could mean for our community. I’m excited to build with you, thank you for showing up. 🖤