Image of the week…mysterious hair

3rd May 2021

“I find hair interesting because it is in the step to adulthood that our hair begins to grow. Only children are without hair on their bodies, and, instead, in today’s porn an eroticism has been built around no hair. Obsessive waxing, making women look like girls …

Curiously, at the end of our life, as we are old, we lose hair because it falls out, and also at that moment we stop being sexualised people and we stop feeling beautiful. Some older people even look like children again….Just some ideas”

 

This thought-provoking email floated in a few months back from an editor asking me to contribute to an art journal. She suggested I look at hair and keep my focus on adolescence. With a little escape to Hastings on the cards I reached out for help and Giles kindly spread the word I was looking for young people to meet and possibly photograph for the project.

“I was told to contact you if I was interested in partaking in your new Hair project. I am very interested-if that wasn’t clear – in this project as well as your other works.

I am a bit concerned however, as to how I, as a hijabi can really represent hair.

Thanks so much,

 Suhaylah”

 

As we fought the wind and took a seafront stroll Suhaylah and I bounced ideas around how we could make her image relevant to her hair.

 

“People are so curious to know what my hair looks like. Hidden under my hijab it remains a mystery. So, in a way my hijab has become my hair.”

 

We talked about symbolism , modesty, peer pressure and expression.

 

“My hair as part of my identity, loving all aspects of myself and allocating it the correct time and attention needed- all of this has been a Rocky journey. I’m starting to see it as almost an accessory, I don’t need it to be beautiful for myself or to be accepted by my peers. I also very much like the way it looks.”

 

OAO x