CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/27/2015

Crafted: Objects in Flux

Featured image is from Sonya Clark's 2013 Hair Craft Project: Hairstylists with Sonya, reproduced in Crafted: Objects in Flux, MFA Publications' catalog to the show which opened this week at MFA Boston. Curator Emily Zilber writes, "Each of Clark's provocative works lays claim to the idea that hairdressing is the 'primordial fiber art,' something generative that deserves consideration in the realm of the art object, and that touches intimately on race and cultural worth... The Hair Craft Project culminated in a gallery exhibition and juried prize, but in fact took place over a period of one year, existing as a durational performance as well as an event. Clark visited eleven hairdressers working within the African American community in her town of Richmond, Virginia, and invited them to demonstrate their ample skills of twisting, braiding and beading on two different supports: Clark's own head and a canvas primed with thread to echo strands of hair."