This exhibition explores the complex significance of hair in contemporary culture through a selection of Australian and international historic and recent works encompassing a wide array of media such as painting, photography, video, installation, sculpture, and recorded live performance.
Hair Pieces examines the myriad ways in which artists use hair to investigate themes encompassing growth, empowerment, and transformation – from facial hair transplants and ponytails operating as paintbrushes to hair being braided (and then upbraided), and brushed 100 strokes each day over the same moon cycle.
John Meade, Self portrait as Mary Magdalene, 2003, polyester resin and pigment, human hair, Reducit, bamboo, wood, 80 × 130 × 30cm. © the artist. Photograph: Christian Capurro. Courtesy the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne and Heide Museum of Modern Art
Janine Antoni, performance with Loving Care hair dye, Natural Black, dimensions variable. Photograph: Prudence Cuming Associates at Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London, 1993. © the artist. Courtesy the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York and Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Heide Museum of Modern Art
4 May to 6 October 2024
Melbourne
