human hair, mesh, wire, beads, 19” x 23” x 3.5”, 2007
Mourning Portrait, is a series of memorials to the communities of New Orleans that were devastated by the federal levee breeches which accompanied Hurricane Katrina.
human hair, mesh, wire, beads, 19” x 23” x 3.5”, 2007
These commemorative objects are made from human hair extensions of the type commonly used by African-American women that I found on the curb beside the flooded St. Claude Beauty Supply Shop.
human hair, mesh, wire, 18” x 16” x 5”, 2007
The portraits draw on the nineteenth-century tradition of hairwork, in which family members or artisans would fashion the hair of the deceased into intricate jewelry and other objects as symbols of death and rebirth and remembrance.
human hair, mesh, wire, 23” x 24” x 8”, 2007
Working from my own photographs, I create metal armatures that act as frameworks for weaving the hair into portraits of the vacant houses of the Ninth Ward neighborhood. By documenting private homes, I venerate the city’s losses, both individual and collective.
human hair, mesh, 24” x 18” x 16”, 2008
human hair, mesh, 24” x 18” x 16”, 2008
human hair, mesh, wire, 18”x 12” x 8”, 2007
human hair, mesh, wire, 18”x 12” x 8”, 2007
human hair, mesh, wire, 18”x 12” x 8”, 2007
human hair, mesh, wire, 20” x 14” x 40”, 2008
wig, mesh, hair net, 10” x 12” x 10”, 2008
synthetic hair, clothing, burlap, steel, 45” x 78” x 90”, 2009
synthetic hair, clothing, burlap, steel, 45” x 78” x 90”, 2009
human hair, steel, dimensions variable, 2008
human hair, steel, dimensions variable, 2008