My work explores the themes of women’s identity and outward cues that women project in order to distinguish themselves. This is accomplished through looking at hair culture and different hairstyles that are used today. I use the medium of printmaking to further this, by having one central image of a woman, who dons these different hairstyles.
In my series Red Styles, all of the hair that is printed onto the bald woman are red hairstyles. This is a reference to my own hair color, and is a way for me to bring myself directly into the artwork and to look at how I shape my own identity, specifically through my hair. I, like many other people, allow themselves to be defined by their hair, and for me, that is specifically the color of my hair. This single feature, more than any other part of my body, has been used to measure and determine my beauty, uniqueness, distinction, and overall identity as a “redhead” and human being. While being identified as this is not inherently wrong, I wish to explore why hair and hair color means so much.
I am also interested in the transition from one state to another - from an article of clothing to a sheet of paper. In papermaking, fabrics such as cotton and linen, can be reused and beaten into pulp to be formed into sheets of paper, changing the fibers’ purpose and function. In a recent body of work, through the process of printmaking, collaging with hand sewing, and weaving paper and prints, I am taking the new state of the fiber as paper and referencing its previous life in creating paper cloth. This new “cloth” is then used to make paper outfits for women I have printed. Just as we change our clothes day to day deciding our attire for the roles and jobs we have, the women of my prints wear different hairstyles and outfits either printed for them or constructed from the repurposed paper as if they are getting ready for their own day.
My work explores the themes of women’s identity and outward cues that women project in order to distinguish themselves. This is accomplished through looking at hair culture and different hairstyles that are used today. I use the medium of printmaking to further this, by having one central image of a woman, who dons these different hairstyles.
In my series Red Styles, all of the hair that is printed onto the bald woman are red hairstyles. This is a reference to my own hair color, and is a way for me to bring myself directly into the artwork and to look at how I shape my own identity, specifically through my hair. I, like many other people, allow themselves to be defined by their hair, and for me, that is specifically the color of my hair. This single feature, more than any other part of my body, has been used to measure and determine my beauty, uniqueness, distinction, and overall identity as a “redhead” and human being. While being identified as this is not inherently wrong, I wish to explore why hair and hair color means so much.
I am also interested in the transition from one state to another - from an article of clothing to a sheet of paper. In papermaking, fabrics such as cotton and linen, can be reused and beaten into pulp to be formed into sheets of paper, changing the fibers’ purpose and function. In a recent body of work, through the process of printmaking, collaging with hand sewing, and weaving paper and prints, I am taking the new state of the fiber as paper and referencing its previous life in creating paper cloth. This new “cloth” is then used to make paper outfits for women I have printed. Just as we change our clothes day to day deciding our attire for the roles and jobs we have, the women of my prints wear different hairstyles and outfits either printed for them or constructed from the repurposed paper as if they are getting ready for their own day.
