Bird Hair 2/29/08

Still like the idea of feathers being the bird equivalent to human hair. Also thought these samples were particularly beautiful.

More Samples 2/28/08

These samples are from a sheep in Ireland, my mother has been learning to spin and she uses sheeps wool for this. Makes me wonder if human hair would work for this purpose. Remember learning about how the hair of concentration camp victims was collected upon entry into the camp, this served partially as a method for removing each person's individuality and perhaps their sense of sexual identity as well. It occurs to me that this also happens in the military and in some religious sects.

Samples 2/29/08

Started thinking about objects that are made of hair. These images are of a makeup brush made of animal hair.

Sample 2/22/08

Didn't have alot of time this week to collect samples, been deep into indentity project. however, I did happen upon one sample in a friends yard that he agreed to let me have after a lengthy discussion about how genetic info is obtained from hair samples and what other info is stored.

Samples 2/14/08

Wondering about the old tradition of keeping a lock of a lover's hair in a locket. Was it the smell of the texture or the fact that the hair is one of the few physical parts of ourselves that can be removed without significant pain( fingernal clippings are not quite as romantic as hair) Guessing it goes to the whole hair representing sexuality thing.

samples 2/08/08

was having abit of difficulty getting donors for this project then i remembered my hairdresser friends, went to the salon to day and got anonymous samples from unsuspecting clients.Also noticed a few art pieces at The Mint Museum of Craft and design that used human hair, one was a purse with a braided hair handle, another had hair and other objects embedded in a peice using wax to seal it in. My mother told me she saw a show once that was all art made from human hair, gonna do some surfing tonight see what facts I can dig up about art encorporating human or other types of hair.

Hair and Feather Samples 2/01/08

Starting to realize exactly how personal hair is. Asked one person I didn't know very well and they wondered what Iwas really going to do with the hair and if I new that their hair could be tested for substances and also had genetic information in it. They wanted to check out the Accumulation site before releasing their sample. I remembered a film, Starman where an alien entity creates a likeness of a deceased human by photos and hair from a scrapbook. This made me think about how much has changed in human knowlege of oursleves has increased in my lifetime, the fact that you can take a starnd of hair of drop of blood and know the donors genetic make-up is pretty amazing. I'm not reall sure what would be done with this info but some people do not want their detailed physical make-up tp be public knowledge.