Hair Stories

Newport Museum of Art

Curated by Head Curator Francine Weiss

July 17, 2021 - October 31, 2021


Featured artists include: Eunice Adorno, Melanie Bilenker, Tara Bogart, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Sonya Clark, Sean M. Johnson, Nneka Kai, Vivian Keulards, Wangui Maina, Ana Mendieta, Patricia Miranda, Zanele Muholi, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Rachel Portesi, Shahzia Sikander, Lorna Simpson, Gu Wenda, Nafis M. White, Anne Wilson, and D.M. Witman.


Hair is more than just the threadlike growth in human beings. It has played important roles in culture, religion, politics, ritual, and identity throughout history and in the present day. In some cultures, hair is a source of strength or a sign of femininity, virility, and beauty. How it is cut, styled, treated, and kept embodies individual and cultural values. At times, it has been the subject of cultural and political conflicts. It is both symbolic and personal.


Bringing together a diverse group of artists whose work focuses on hair or uses hair as a medium, this show explores the multifaceted meanings of hair today. From hair jewelry and lockets that fetishize hair to photographs, sculptures, and video works that celebrate hair, this show examines the ways in which hair functions as a complex set of codes and as the loaded raw material for artistic expression. Themes include history, narrative, loss and mourning, and identity (cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identity).