The use of hair as a medium in postmodern and contemporary art has a rich and diverse history. Several artists have incorporated human hair in their works to explore themes like identity, gender, memory and the body. For example, Jannis Kounellis (1936-2017), a Greek Italian, prominent figure in the Arte Povera movement, used organic and unconventional materials, including human hair. In works like Untitled (1967), he attached tufts of human hair to canvases, emphasising raw and primal associations with the body and nature. His use of hair underscored the tension between civilization and natural forces, often conveying a visceral sense of humanity's connection to the material world.
While Mona Hatoum (1952-), a Palestinian artist, often uses hair in her sculptures and installations to evoke themes of exile, displacement and personal identity. Hair Necklace features strands of human hair woven into a fragile chain-like object, combining the personal with the political. Her work Keffieh (a traditional Palestinian scarf) features patterns created by human hair, symbolising the complexities of cultural identity and belonging. There were of course, many other artists like Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996), Wenda Gu (1955-), Annette Messager (1943-), Kimsooja (1957-), David Hammons (1943-) and Sonya Clark (1967) who used hair to address personal identity, political issues or cultural heritage. Others use hair to evoke complex emotional, social and historical narratives.
This month's exhibition at the Banca Giurale in Victoria Gozo, marks a fascinating return to abstraction for Gozitan artist, Godwin Cutajar, this time using human hair as a medium. At the heart of this collection is the notion that hair is more than a physical extension of the body - it is a vessel for complex emotions and unconscious drives, an idea that resonates deeply with Freudian, Jungian and Lacanian psychoanalytic theories.
In this exhibition, Hairytales, the artist presents and exemplifies an innovative approach how to use human hair as both a medium and narrative tool. In most of the two-dimensional compositions, the crumpled paper serves as a textured background, juxtaposing the organic quality of the hair. The dark, tangled strands seem to spill beyond the confines of the paper, symbolising an unruly force that cannot be contained by boundaries.
Cutajar's work can be seen as an exploration of the body's visceral presence, where the hair - often associated with intimate, personal moments - evokes a range of emotions. By positioning the hair on paper, Cutajar creates a dialogue between the natural and the artificial, with hair standing in for themes of growth, memory and identity. It echoes Freudian ideas of fetishism and bodily fragments, while also engaging with Lacanian concepts of the objet petit a - the unattainable desire.
These sparse compositions emphasise the hair's fragility, inviting the viewer to contemplate the tension between form, material and narrative. Each hair serves as a marker of personal history, allowing the artwork to operate on both physical and psychological levels. The seemingly simple gesture of placing hair on paper opens up complex discussions about the body, time and the residue of human experience.
In Freudian terms, the artist's childhood fixation on hair can be viewed as part of the development of the libido and the Oedipal complex. Freud posited that early experiences, especially those tied to physical sensations, leave lasting imprints on the psyche. The artist's recollection of hair kindling "strong pleasant and even erotic emotions" reflects this, suggesting hair as a symbol of sexual awakening, connected to what Freud referred to as the "polymorphous perversity" of childhood (1905-1962), where pleasure can arise from various parts of the body. The eroticism of hair, especially in the way it is woven into the narrative, evokes Freud's concept of fetishism, where the object (hair) becomes imbued with deeper psychological meaning, acting as a substitute for the sexual object.
Jung, on the other hand, would see the symbolic use of hair as tied to the collective unconscious, particularly in its role as an archetypal symbol. Hair has long been associated with strength, vitality, and primal energy in cultures around the world (from Samson's strength in his hair to the shaven heads of monks symbolising purity). For Jung, the artist's fascination with the organic growth of hair represents as well an exploration of the self, where hair becomes a metaphor for growth, decay and transformation. It embodies the Jungian process of individuation, the quest for wholeness, as it symbolises both life and death in its natural cycles of growth and cutting (1959-1968).
Lacan's theories add another layer of interpretation. The artist's description of hair as having the "power to evoke drama, toil, pleasure, pain, joy, anguish, life and death" points to the Lacanian jouissance, a concept that speaks to an excessive pleasure intertwined with pain. Hair, as it exists between the body and the world, becomes a site of both beauty and discomfort, a source of pleasure and potential trauma. For Lacan, the objet petit a - the unattainable object of desire - is present in the artist's work through hair's symbolic potential to stand in for deeper, unnameable desires. The shapes in relation to a focal point could symbolise the Other in Lacanian terms, representing how the subject constructs their identity in relation to an external gaze, or something outside themselves that defines them (1964-1977).
This exhibition invites the viewer into a dialogue with the unconscious. Hair, a mundane yet deeply personal material, becomes the bridge between personal memory and collective symbolism, between childhood desires and adult consciousness. Each abstract piece offers a glimpse into the artist's own psychic landscape, reflecting the interplay between form, meaning and the unspoken narratives that drive our inner lives.
Thus, one may conclude that the artist's personal narrative could be linked to broader psychoanalytic theories, offering an interpretation that aligns with Freudian, Jungian and Lacanian thought.
'Hairytales' will run at the Banca Giuratale, Independence Square, Victoria Gozo, from 18 November until 2 December.
Professor Louis Laganà PhD (Lough) is an academic, art historian and practicing artist
