2023-08-08 13:18:56
Few elements have so much potential to build identities, stereotypes and social or gender differences. That is why the use of hair has been constant throughout the history of art. The work “What the hair says about us”, which includes the works of Susana Cendán and Nuria Bouzas, is a journey through the different manifestations throughout the centuries and an interesting reflection on feminism, masculinity and sexuality.
“This research stems from a fascination I felt for Victorian mourning jewelry made from hair, which had to do with the memory of loved ones but was also used as a token of affection between friends or lovers. And from there I continued studying because I was interested in its potential to generate archetypes or build identities and how artistic tool both in the past and today. Also, my mother had a hairdresser and I suppose there must be something in my subconscious, ”Cendán admits with a laugh, who at the beginning of the book pays a nice tribute to that“ social club ”in which he grew up in As Pontes.
The book has been published thanks to the support of the grupo dx5 Digital & Graphic Art Research from the Department of Drawing of the Faculty of Fine Arts, to which she belongs, and her version on line It is freely accessible on the UVigo Investigo portal. Her work is an extension of a previous article published in Goya magazine and is complemented by a version of Nuria Bouzas’s thesis, which she directed.
Both works affect how hair, especially hair, have enjoyed special attention since the first civilizations and that many symbolisms associated with it have remained unchanged over time, while new associations have emerged associated with other contexts.
Cendán part of the “flourishing industry” specialized in jewelry made with hair that emerged in Europe from the 18th century until reaching contemporary artists such as Hu Xiaoyuan, Miriam Shapiro or Mona Hatoum, who include it in their creations in a vindictive way, or even the designer Alexander McQueen, so influenced by the Victorian style that in his final year project at the prestigious Saint Martins from London sewed bags with her own tufts inside the garments.
“If you trace history, you will find works with hair, especially from surrealism, which used it on a recurring basis because it is a material that provokes mixed feelings and that many people may reject,” he comments.
Through a reading with a gender perspective, Cendán contrasts Dalí’s mustache, for him a symbol of his virility and genius, with the “witchy connotations” of Yoko Ono’s long hair. This myth of loose or disheveled hair like representation of an uncontrolled sexuality and of the woman as dominator of the will of the man is exacerbated by Pre-Raphaelites like Dante Gabriel Rossetti, bent on “characterizing women as fatal Woman the fearsome predators”.
It also recalls its association with sin in all religions, which have forced women, some continue to do, to hide their hair. And she puts on the table the stories of various bearded women.
Although excess hair has been associated with the monstrous, this link is greater in the case of them since medieval and Renaissance times and continues with circus or fair shows in which they were exhibited and exploited in the cruelest way from of the eighteenth century.
Ingrained constructions on how to comb and wax
Cendán links the French Clémentine Delait (1865-1939), an exceptional case because she managed to “integrate the beard into her daily life in the most dignified way possible”, with the British activist of Pakistani origin Harnaam Kaur, born in 1990. The harsh waxing sessions he underwent to avoid being “a freak” burned his skin and he came to contemplate the idea of committing suicide. “She goes against all the canons of beauty because the beard is a traditionally masculine symbol and when the woman has it, she is the object of glances, comments and ridicule that increase more with social networks. She has a very brave attitude,” she applauds.
The artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) also took courage when she decided not to shave her mustache or her eyebrows: “They were part of her identity. A few years ago I put up the picture of her in class and heard giggling. When I asked the reason they told me it was because of the moustache. It is not something socially accepted yet. It is an ingrained construction that tells us how we have to dress, comb our hair or shave”.
Some conventions that also affect men, although in their case they are more related to stereotypes about belonging to certain social classes or political ideology. And he gives as an example the controversy generated around the deputy of Podemos Alberto Rodríguez, whose personal hygiene was questioned in certain media and on social networks because he wore dreadlocks. He also gave a lot of himself to the capillary aesthetic of the party’s founder, Pablo Iglesias. “The bullfighter simile was even used when he left politics and cut his ponytail,” recalls Cendán.
“Hair is part of my life, I love it and I’m going to continue researching in this area,” acknowledges the expert. In fact, this summer he traveled expressly to the city of Paris to visit a “wonderful” exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts on the evolution of hairstyles and body hair, how they condition the perception of others and how fashions change depending on of political situations.
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