Untitled (Hair Sculpture)
Human hair, hair spray, invisible thread
150x240x360 cm Approx.
2012
Available
Ali Kazim is interested in exploring the human body that is complex both in its physicality and as a thematic concern. Living beings work like machines, for them to survive the body performs basic functions at an unconscious level that runs parallel to the various emotional and spiritual stresses of everyday life. The fine connection between conscious and the unconscious roles is what the artist has tried to thread through in his sculptural ‘drawing’ work. This work is perhaps glimpses of those links the body goes through.
A careful selection of material in order to articulate the subject effectively was very important for Kazim. He used human hair to create a three-dimensional ‘drawing’ suspended in the air. For Kazim, hair has an interesting quality, when they are part of the body they are attractive and give one an identity, but when they are cut off or plucked out they can be totally repulsive. His selected material and its characteristics allowed Kazim to let things happen naturally. ‘Just as when I draw the pencil flows innately on the paper, for this my fingers began to weave in a mechanized manner, while my thoughts wandered exploring a world unknown to me; I rediscovered myself in the whole process of making. The structure created through this material symbolizes the body’s interior world. I also hope the work touches more complex issues than the conscious ideas of behind its creation while walking around floated hair tubes.’
Ali Kazim received his BFA from the National College of Arts, Lahore in 2002 and an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK, in 2011. He has exhibited widely in solo and group shows internationally.
Photo Credit | Vipul Sangoi