Funny feelings about hair

Hair’s importance as a cultural symbol and as an object of shame and wonder has been widely discussed in the literature of anthropology and psychology. No one gets a BA in anthropology without reading (or at least pretending to have read) Sir Edmund Leach’s 1958 essay “Magical Hair” and maybe even Christopher Hallpike’s “Social Hair”, written in 1969.

But contemporary Dutch sculptor Chrystl Rijkeboer (a detail from whose 1999 installation Love is the devil appears at the head of this post) sums up the situation pretty nicely:

…hair has symbolic significance: beauty, strength, health, attraction, etcetera. The moment it is separated from the human all these factors turn around, hair is considered dirty, unsavoury and dead.

The use of hair in contemporary art is often contrived and facile. It’s a readily available material that guarantees a visceral response in the viewer. Rijkeboer’s work stands out, though. The most recent work on her site is from 2003. I wonder what she’s been up to since then.

I like Hrafnhildur Arnardottir’s (aka Shoplifter) work too. This Icelandic artist uses hair – mostly synthetic, I believe – in sculptures ranging in form from Ikebana to braid murals. She is also responsible for the elaborate hairpiece worn by Bjork in the photos for her album Medulla.



She may be referring to a traditional Icelandic artform. It turns out that hair craft also has a history in Iceland. Sigridur Salvarsdottir learned the skill of haircraft from her mother. If you happen to be in Rekjavik before March 13th, you can see her work on exhibit at the Gerduberg Cultural Centre.