Context

I first began working with hair in 2015 when I documented for 100 days the process of growing out my hair.

This moved onto documenting my hair growth for a year before moving into asking others to ask them about their hair.

Conversations 

“I have been working with hair and the narratives that we each hold within our hair. I am interested in conversations, memories, stories, and language around our sense of self through the entry point of hair. Hair can many things, a site of resistance, an identity marker and a connection to our ancestors and lineage.”

This participatory work invites participant to sit for a 15 minute live-drawing session. While I draw, I ask them to 'tell me a story about your hair, and how it does (or doesn't) tie into your identity.' The stories shared touch upon the politics of hair and our identity. It is important for me to create a reciprocal environment for sharing and listening.

These conversations were first held while a resident at the Vermont Studio Center in 2016. From these initial drawing sessions, I have created dry-point etchings, transcribed the audio and created an audio track. First exhibited at the National Academy Museum, and part of my solo exhibition 'In Conversation With Line, April 5- 29, 2017.

Installation location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Photographer: Christian Anayas

Model: Thew Smoak

Previous iterations of this work:

From 2015-2017