Caryl Burtner | Sonya Clark | Talia Greene | Ruth Marten | Althea Murphy-Price | Loren Schwerd
parted, pulled, locked, combed, brushed, twisted, braided, curled, puffed, tufted, trimmed, picked
Hairdressing is the primordial fiber art. I connect with the sensuality of hair by making wigs and hair studies. Visceral memories of hairdressing evoke the forms: oily pomade between the palms and on fingertips to be massaged into parted hair, the buzz of the clippers, the smell of the lye in the relaxers, the pungent odor of burning hair, the slice of scissors through thick locks, the rhythm of braiding, the sound of the brush against a scalp, the tug of the tangle being forced to conformity.
Short, cropped, and natural. That was my hairstyle for many years. When I started allowing it to grow, hair, which had long been a subject in my work also became my medium. Hair is power. Note the Samson myth, Rastafarian dreadlocks, and Angela Davis’s Afro of the 1960s. Hair grows approximately 5 inches a year and measures our lives like Lachesis of the Three Fates in Greek mythology. As carrier of DNA, hair is the essence of identity. Deep within each strand, the vestiges of our roots resound.
