SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

This artist’s book, “Unwound: A Journey Through Hair,” is a visual narrative that explores the complex relationship between people and their hair. Motivated by growing anxiety about my hair that I’ve had since childhood, this project aims to delve into the bondage and liberation of hair on human beings in the process of achieving self-reconciliation with anxiety. Hair has long been considered a crucial part of the human body. It not only has the physiological function of protecting the human body, but it is also an important signal of personal image. Hair texture is diverse between different ethnic groups, which leads to different branches of treatment and perception of beauty. Hair witnesses self-esteem and constructs social identity in people’s pursuit of satisfying appearances and self-expressions. While existing hair research examines holistic anthropological perspectives on how hair functions in society, this project provides imaginative insights into the pressure and prejudice that hair brings to people by touching upon nuanced personal emotions. With digital collage as the main art form, this artist book presents the fantasy of hair from the inner world to the outer world in three chapters through realism, surrealism, and minimalism. By visualizing the origins of human perception of hair and its inherent clichés, this project questions the rationality of existing aesthetics system about hair constructed by Eurocentrism and patriarchy. The exaggerated visual expression tries to be more conducive to provoking personal experiences and reflections in the audience.