Hair embroidery

 "Kate Kretz embroiders pillowcases with eyelashes and human hairs (including several from an ex-boyfriend). The result is both delicate and creepy..."~New York Times

Maryland-based Kate Kretz is one of a few artists* recognized for embroidering with human hair. Most recently, her visions have taken shape as a nest of her own hair cradling an egg and marking the birth of her daughter - decades after terminating a pregnancy. Another piece consists of her gestational hair embroidered on a child's garment and symbolizes hope for her daughter's safety and fear of her own vulnerability. Both works have been assembled into a one-woman show entitled "This Sharp World" which runs through July 2nd at Hardcore Art Contemporary Space in Miami. In an earlier work not in the show (depicted above), Kretz  threaded individual strands of the locks of a former boyfriend through a pillowcase. Until they became part of her portfolio, the curls had lain in the glass box in which he had presented them to her with the words, "I think you love my hair more than me." The artist does not reveal whether or not this was true, but does include the following passage in her statement accompanying the current show:

"Embroidering with hair possesses its own unique intensity: each barely perceptible stitch is like a rosary bead, marking a tiny but ardent prayer whispered over and over....I give birth to the tactile as I am swallowed by the virtual. I obsess over craft as our world becomes disposable. I wield emotion in its messiness because it's uncool. I work until my hands shake, because the world does not care. I am banging my head against the wall, but the stain is beautiful."

 *including Laura Normandin in New York, Zaira Pulido in Columbia, and Meng Yongguo in Hong Kong.

________

Previous posts about hair:

Tresses

Beard and Moustache Championships

Bearded mom

Seven Sutherland sisters

18th c. French hairstyles for women

Napoleon's hair

Tresses

"I’ve already cried at the thought of him having it cut, and will cry again when it actually happens." ~Leeanne Smith, mother of 5-year-old Rean Carter (1st image, more photos here) of Hylton Castle, Sunderland, U.K., who plans to have his 18" hair cut for the 1st time because he is getting teased at school

"I've let her keep it this way because she likes having such long hair, but the time has come to get it cut." ~Catarina Moraes de Andrade, mother of 12-year-old Natasha (2nd image, more photos here) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who plans to have her 5' 2" hair cut for the 1st time because it is interfering with her after-school activities

If you would like to read more about hair, I have written several posts on the subject, including the extraordinary 18th c. French hairstyles for women, the prolific Seven Sutherland sisters, and the amusing Beard and moustache championships.

18th c. French hairstyles for women

While men wore wigs in 18th c. France, they were outdone many times over by the women, whose headdresses reached a ridiculous extravagance - and rose to a height of 3 feet! Technically, these were not wigs, but their natural hair supplemented by extensions. These tall coiffures were often modelled over cage frames or horsehair pads, and were heavily scented, starched, and powdered. They were decorated with ribbons, feathers, flowers, beads, jewelry, silk, lace, and figurines made of fabric or papier maché. They caused headaches, from the weight during the day, presumably, but also by requiring women to sleep in awkward positions. And they were fire hazards. The time it took to create them meant that weeks went by between stylings - during which women had to protect their headpieces from infestation by vermin! In contrast to mice nesting in the horsehair, the presence of birds was occasionally invited: occupied birdcages, garden scenes, and model ships were incorporated into some designs. One of the best-known was called À la Belle Poule, and commemorated the victory of a French frigate over an English ship in 1778, which began the French involvement in the American War of Independence. French queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) was known to have worn her hair styled as a vegetable garden and a scene in support of the smallpox vaccination. A duchess was said to have worn portraits of her 5 children in her hair, and another woman's coif carried a replica of her husband's tombstone.

These elaborate themed hairdos - popular in the courts of French kings Louis XV (1710-1774) and Louis XVI (1754-1793) - became symbolic of the decadence of the French nobility. Distrust of things Continental led English women, who at first eagerly copied them, to disdain these styles. Writers editorialized and engravers satirized. The "vertical climb"* of hairstyles was caricatured with a man taking shelter under one, hunters shooting at a flock of birds nesting in another, and other images of the hair dwarfing the woman it is meant to decorate. There was much to poke fun at, since stylists had to use ladders, doorways had to be heightened, and women were forced to stick their heads out the window when riding in a carriage - and were forced to forgo the theater altogether. Meanwhile, peasants starved as the flour they needed to bake bread was diverted to powder hair. This inconvenient trend had passed by the 1790s...

*Even if you follow no other links, do look at this one!