Statement

I started using human hair in my work in 1993 after I shaved my head. The experience of being completely bald and absent of my rambunctiously curly brown hair was liberating. Being bald freed me from an identity associated with my hair type. The act of changing my identity by changing my hair was intriguing.

I became focused on saving my hair and rolling it into hairballs. Soon I started asking friends to save their hair after it was cut. The extraordinary color range, diverse texture, and power human hair holds continually amazes me.

I find the relationship we as a society have to our hair fascinating. A person's hair influences one's cultural and personal identity and can challenge a stereotype or embrace a tradition. The fact that our DNA make-up lies in a single hair adds to the mystique.

The historical and contemporary implications of hair contextualize the meaning of my work. Hair is considered sacred in many cultures with restricted exposure and adherence to specific hairstyles. Some groups such as Rastafarians, Sikhs, and Hasidic Jews refrain from cutting their hair. Family heirloom books covet hair locks and during the Victorian era jewelry, wreaths, and lace were made of hair. Forcefully shaving someone's head, which occurred in the concentration camps during WWII, is an act of humiliation and a device used to oppress a population.

Cross Hairs presents as its subject the many words in the language that describe hair — words that are often negative — unruly, kinky, oily, dull, and wispy. It also features words that name hairstyles: mullet, mohawk and momoware, cornrows and peyos, bob and flattop. The installation also uses materials and furnishings frequently found in bathrooms and beauty parlors, those places of narcissistic encounters with mirrors, and sites of discarded locks and tangles. An elegant wall of toilet paper tubes is embedded with plastic spheres that magnify the names of hairstyles, and several large mirrors on the walls and floor reflect the visitor's image midst a large cone of hairballs.

I use this installation to place the great variety of hair types and the visceral and cultural reactions we have to hair in the cross hairs of our vision.

In the spirit of social inquiry, the exhibit, Hairy Times uses hair to explore the contradictions and controversies inherent in our current political climate. President Bush's questionable re-election; the restriction of our civil rights; the degradation of the environment; the diminishing respect for separation of church and state; the media conglomerate's consolidation resulting in biased and misleading journalism; and the current administration's approach to the war on terrorism are very disturbing to me. Oil drum Addiction pays homage to the thousands of lives that have been lost due to the greed of the oil industry. The lack of leadership the United States administration has taken to promote non fossil fuel forms of energy and address the gas dependency issue in this country is abominable. Us & Them, further addresses the issues around the current United States' foreign policy. Hostile, dogmatic, go-it-alone rhetoric coupled with the inability to see the need to be part of the larger world have increased disdain and resentment towards the US from our brothers and sisters around the world. Family Values boldly drills the pride symbol for gays and lesbians through the text block of one of the most influential books in the world. The book truly becomes the holey bible exposing elements of discrimination and magnifying the irony of religious might resulting in violence and destruction. Lastly, The Hairy Times, a hand-made newspaper created from shredded New York and Los Angeles Times papers, manifests the media's failure to ask the hard questions and hold the government accountable. The ramifications of this neglect and deceit are made evident in our apathetic and disenfranchised populace.