Touch: Hair

Hair

"Hair deeply affects people, can transfigure or repulse them. Symbolic of life, hair bolts from our head. Like the earth, it can be harvested, but it will rise again. We can change its color and texture when the mood strikes us, but in time it will return to its original form, just as Nature will in time turn our precisely laid-out cities into a weed-way."

Diane Ackerman (A Natural History of the Senses)

Statement: The sound recording above was inspired by the "Hair" section within the "Touch" chapter of Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of The Senses. For this piece, I simply recorded the process of me shaving my facial hair and then grooming my beard and the hair on my head. The intention of this recording exemplifies the self-reverting nature of hair. People perform various actions to alter the appearance and texture of hair on their body. In this instance, I shaved my facial hair as to give myself a cleaner appearance while alleviating myself of the rugged, irritating texture of my stubble. I also brushed my hair in order to make it appear neat. However, as stated by Ackerman in the quote above, a person's action upon their hair is never permanent, as it will either eventually regrow or revert to its original color. In this instance, my facial hair will revert back to its rugged length, and I will have no choice but to shave once more in order to adhere to my appearance standards.