Transient Installation
‘Why am I so attached to something that is dead or not serving me? What is the purpose of this useless part of my body? Why do I feel I have to conform to what everyone else is doing with their hair?’
- Katie Barnsley
Katie Barnsley believes that hair as a material is, in itself, meaningful, even before she uses it to make something new. It carries the weight of many religious and cultural traditions, the DNA that makes us who we are, represents the delicacy of womanhood, and the concept of existing as both alive and dead. She believes that a single strand of hair can be an artwork in itself due to its vast emotional attachment that the majority of people feel towards theirs.
The work has developed into the importance of the soul and what is unseen within people. Barnsley's current pieces of work will not last, they are inspired by temporary Buddhist sand mandalas and the concept of the ephemeral. They include dead, external components of the body, hair, representing the ‘unreal’ or ‘non-soul’. Barnsley makes work that will not last physically, but has a memorable and emotional impact on the viewer. She has developed an acceptance that the material world does not last.
She explores the energy within every human, and considers the external skin we often consider beautiful to be the border between ourselves and the external, material world where we spend our lives. She expresses that true beauty, soul, can be found within the energy inside our bodies and that external body is irrelevant to a person’s spiritual self.
Her practice developed into a performance piece in 2022, where Barnsley asked artist and stylist Jordan Vanderhyde to shave off her long hair in front of an audience. During the process she asked the viewers whether they would ever cut off all their hair, and if not, why not? She emphasised to the audience that the performance was inspired by the yoga practice of dis-attachment, influenced by monks who remove their hair, sacrificing vanity in a quest to find themselves. The piece became emotional for some female members of the audience as they connected it with rebellious stages in their style journeys. It was unmistakably a feminist artwork, defying stereotypes and rejecting the social norms of women – whether or not that was her intention. The piece was dramatic, performative and surprising, and the collected hair resulted in this installation ‘Transient’.
KBarnsley
