Hair by Hood:
Alix Bizet in collaboration with YR10 textile students @HGAED
Tamed, shaved, dyed or straightened, hair is a material that has been used by humans to construct a portrait. Human hair is shaped to be a social indicator between individuals to communicate their status and cultural affiliations. Although hair’s original state is characterized by richly diverse texture and colors, our idea of hair has been steadily standardized over the years by the cosmetics industry, media, and social conventions, making it akin to a uniform. (Bizet, A: 2015)
The CCE was approached by artist Alix Bizet to collaborate on a project 'Hair by Hood' which Alix was developing as part of her residency at the Design Museum London. The project was of interest to the CCE due to the researching potential to support students in exploring practice research methods as a form of enquiry. Hair as a material to open up debate around different social and cultural issues holds exciting opportunities to engage with the body through arts practices. Alix states 'hair is shaped to be a social indicator'. As seen in Exploration #1: Thinking Skins, where the skin was used as a methodology, a way of thinking to disrupt traditional imagery of women, this project also offered ways of working with the material agency of bodily matter, literary in this case, to support a disruption of socially perceived constructs and invite curiosity and explorations around identity.
The Hair by Hood Process
Alix Bizet’s project is a development of an existing project, Hair Matter(s), in which she proposes human hair as a design medium.
Exploring anthropological themes, Alix’s ambition is to initiate discussion through the material she collects. Exploring London by postcodes and through its local communities, she engages diverse groups of people in the use of hair as a practical material and the ethics of its use. Her collaborative approach examines the idea of ownership, reframing her role as a designer. She employs traditional textile techniques, such as wet-felting transforming the hair into a pliable sheet material. She tests other techniques and treatments to alter its appearance and therefore influence the reaction to the textile.
Alix’s participatory method of working engages different groups, creating debate around social customs. She investigates the connotations of our hairstyles, questioning cultural perceptions and identities associated with hair types. Crafted with hair fibres the final garments represent the stories and cultures woven into the social fabric of a diverse city.
Exploring anthropological themes, Alix’s ambition is to initiate discussion through the material she collects. Exploring London by postcodes and through its local communities, she engages diverse groups of people in the use of hair as a practical material and the ethics of its use. Her collaborative approach examines the idea of ownership, reframing her role as a designer. She employs traditional textile techniques, such as wet-felting transforming the hair into a pliable sheet material. She tests other techniques and treatments to alter its appearance and therefore influence the reaction to the textile.
Alix’s participatory method of working engages different groups, creating debate around social customs. She investigates the connotations of our hairstyles, questioning cultural perceptions and identities associated with hair types. Crafted with hair fibres the final garments represent the stories and cultures woven into the social fabric of a diverse city.