Island Fashion @ Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art.

I proudly created the hairstyles in these images that were displayed in an installation named ISLAND FASHION which was a project of Ranu James & Maryann Talia Pau which was on display from September 2019 to March 2020.

When I go into a cultural project like this, I step in as the student, and completely and utterly unlearn all of the contraints of modern hairdressing, and allow the culture to guide to me.

I remember the day of shooting these images, as that is how much impact these types of cultural projects have on me. Although this is not my own culture, I am truely honoured to be present and to be a part of creating, or recreating such powerful and storytelling visuals.

With the first image, I knew the weaved mat was a strong feature and what it represented culturally, and I knew it had to be in some way included in the hair. I looked over old images, and transformed the natural ringlet hair into a fluffy afro texture, then weaved and stitched up the texture into a shape.

With the second image, what was a feature was the fishbone tattoo adorning her throat. I transformed the straight hair into the fluffy afro texture and created a fishbone braid to follow up from the throat to the sky. With such a powerful ancestral headpiece, I knew the hair had to have it’s own power to support the overall look.