Art Across the Academy: Hair Stories by Sonya Clark

Hair Stories: Pluck and Grow

"I began collecting stories and drawings from students about their hair at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and the VCU campus in Doha, Qatar. Those stories were printed on paper, dyed hair colors, and twisted into “hairs.” Each hair, like DNA, contains the story of a person; something about their identity. Later, at the University of Michigan, I worked with students there to develop ideas of language and metaphor in their hair stories. The piece was installed with the blonde to black hairs made from the hair stories from VCU students. At Michigan, people plucked one of the dyed stories to keep and replaced it with a hair story of their own written on white paper. In this way the collective piece ages. It moves from being brown, black, brunette, and blonde to grey. The new stories on white paper turn the overall piece grey just as our own heads grey over time. In this way the piece collectively ages as it passes from one venue to the next" -Sonya Clark

The Hair Craft Project

"Almost two decades ago, in a review of my work, Bill
Gaskins wrote, “Hairdressing is a primordial fiber art.” I
began The Hair Craft Project with his words in mind. So, I
left the studio and went to the source, the Hairdressers
themselves.
Hairdressers are my heroes. The poetry and politics of
Black hair care specialists are central to my work as an
artist and educator. Rooted in rich legacy, their hands
embody an ability to map a head with a comb and manipulate
the fiber we grow into complex form. These artists have
mastered a craft impossible for me to take for granted.
The Hair Craft Project highlights a sampling of
Richmond’s immense talent. I began with the closest salon
to my home and worked my way by word of mouth to the
other stylists. The eleven hairdressers were each supplied
with my full head of hair and a canvas hand stitched with
silk thread. Their challenge was to demonstrate their
expertise in a familiar medium, hair, and, translate it into a
less familiar one, thread on canvas. For the yearlong
project, I became a walking art gallery donning glorious
hairstyles. The photographs on Display, document the
temporary hairstyles created specifically for the project.
As to the premise that these that these talented
hairdressers are also talented fiber artists: that is made
evident in the work."