Portrait with Hair
Drawing with human hair on canvas, digital print
150 x 110 cm, 55 x 36 cm
2017
The drawing Portrait with Hair originates from the merge of my art practice with living experience of motherhood. I am observing motherhood through meeting the Other, which brings me the possibility of transformative of my personal, as well as artistic identity.
Portrait with Hair is a kind of a memorabilia on a significant event in my life, the first haircut of Nola, my seven year old daughter. This work is a visual subjectivization of an experience which has emerged from the research of intersubjectivity, both Nola’s and mine, our togetherness, communication, process of identification, recognition and acceptance.
From the position of a mother, I am involved in research and questioning of culture based stereotypes associated with perception of hair as an attribute of femininity, beauty and gender identity. Through the research presented in this work, I am attempting to separate the imposed stereotypes from my own perception of a female being, just like my daughter is trying to do, but they keep coming back to us with every new attempt.
The work Portrait with Hair is presented through both image and text. The visual part of this work is expressed through the motif of my daughter’s portrait which I sketched in the hairdresser’s salon while waiting for her first haircut. The same portrait is then interpreted through linear sketch on a canvas. The lines in this drawing are woven from Nola’s discarded, cut off pieces of hair. Through this act, this work shows the qualities of duality, of making distance and drawing near at the same time. Textual part of this paper is interpreted through the technique of digital print. The content of this text expresses my brief diary notes in which I write down the complex acceptance processes of the Other, the questioning of my own expectations and culturally reinforced ideals.
Ines Matijević Cakić
