“Why do you like the things that you like? I am afraid no one can answer that, not even you. And perhaps that is what makes you, you. You don’t have to explain you to someone else. They take you or they leave you. It’s that simple.”

The subject matter of women and their hair has always been close to my heart, for some inexplicable reason. Perhaps my obsession with locks stems from the fact that one’s hair style speaks volumes about that person, going beyond the lines of aesthetics.

This work zooms in on women, and how they struggle daily against the weight of cultural and societal definitions of beauty and the need for the modern woman to appreciate her for who she is, which does include what she looks like, ironically.

How much effort to beautify oneself is considered “adequate”? Indeed, women too often face the a fine line that meanders between self-acceptance and overt vanity. Women do have to look good for themselves, but that can often lead them down the slippery slope of obsessing over their appearance.

This tension has laterally weaved itself into my work – should I conform to traditionally accepted forms of academic art, or should I be bold enough to battle against those boundaries? Can I continue to express my penchant for traditional artistic media whilst at the same time taking my craft into a new dimension?