Braided hair: a personal narrative of the familiar and unfamiliar

Abstract

This paper supports two years of artistic research and is intended to act as an appending document to my thesis exhibition Braided Hair. It addresses three main themes surrounding braided hair as both material for and subject of my work: Cultural 'In-Betweeness', Process, and Beauty of 'Uncanniness'. I draw from personal and cultural narratives, familiar processes and materials to create unfamiliar and surrealistic objects and spaces, celebrating the braided hair as a cultural signifier. It is intended that the objects and installations evoke a visceral experience, echoing the diverse and hybrid cultural spaces around me. I am fascinated with concepts of co-existence, accord, discord, connection and disconnection especially as they relate to cultural dislocation, perceptions of identity and beauty.