un/tangling, un/covering, un/doing

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Baljit Singh, “Coming Home,” 2022

35mm negative print. In collaboration with NorBlack NorWhite (Courtesy of the Gallery)

Winter Opening and Panel Discussion: Friday, Feb 9 | 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

Rooted within storytelling by families and communities, the politics of hair have been both intimately personal and profoundly social. Hair carries diverse cultural narratives that are usually shared through identity and gender. For example, the beauty one sees in loosely coiled curls, or a tight braid are both subjective, not only in the presentation but how hair is communicated to the world.  

Associate Curator Suvi Bains says, “I encourage visitors to take care while viewing artworks in the Gallery—reflect on and listen to the histories and experiences with these artists as they reimagine relationships to hair and re-define beauty standards. un/tangling, un/covering, un/doing brings forth compelling storytelling that expresses connections intertwined with familial teachings and the artists’ own informed experiences.” 

The exhibition shares stories embedded in the rituals attached to hair, for instance acts of resistance and sacred reverence. Artists from across Canada—including Audie Murray, Rebecca Bair, Wally Dion, Clare Yow, Sharon Norwood, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Karin Jones, Baljit Singh, Kiranjot Kaur, and Natasha Kianipour—offer reflections on how hair embodies the importance of culture. They celebrate and reveal their responses to an individual’s association with hair and its many manifestations. 

Black Arts Centre is the community partner for this exhibition and will feature a reading nook for all ages titled New Growths.