Hair Stories 2000

'Shearing'
Mixed media installation for the exhibition ‘HAIR STORIES’
MAEP Gallery, Minneapolis Institute of Art
2000


a tree entwines
scissors shear

Absalom and Berenice
witness
desire and innocence
honor and vanity
sacrifice and artfulness



A tree uprooted and suspended.
Tented and anchored.
Within, a mirror reflects
the video suspended within the trunk
of the shearing of a sheep.
Nearby is a chair covered in hair
within which a video
of the narratives of Berenice and Absalom
are interpreted in American Sign Language.



Mythical narratives allow us to explain and dignify the ordinary.
These narratives as they are told and retold, allow us to assemble our individual identities.

Narratives influence, shape and inspire us.
Narratives of loss are the psychological heart of a society.
It is the bitterness of these tragedies which point out our frailty and compel us to action.

My husband wistfully reminds me that what we all share is our knowledge that we will all be born and that we will all die. It is how we fill the space between those events that distinguishes our mortality.

The mortality of Berenice and Absalom is distinguished in their hair story.