Because of hair; the dichotomy of culture and identity

Because of Hair; The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity Vivian Chinasa Ezugha

Because of Hair

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

The artist would like to thank: Arts Council England, The Garage Theatre in Norwich, Dance Research Studio in London, Frances Cooper, Adam Taylor, Jacky Lansley, Rosie Cooper and In Between Time International festival for facilitating and supporting the research and development of Because of Hair; the dichotomy of culture and identity.

Thank you also to everyone who has supported this projectfrom artists to festival organisers to family and friends.

The dance that falls to the lot of the younger generation is the one that they perform: Whatever occurs during people’s lifetimes is what they know how to deal with. cf.

When a word comes out, its answer comes out. (Every generation is equipped against eventualities or problems of their time.) cf. If something stands, something else stands near it.

- F. C. Ogbalu, 1965

Design and Layout by Sammy Murphy.

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Vivian Chinasa Ezugha, Because of Hair, SPILL Festival of Performance 2016, produced by Pacitti Company. Photo by Guido Mencari.

Because of Hair

They create the other; looking to distribute a meaning in a meaningless realm.

She cries and laughs; he sticks his penis into the wall of her cavity.

Her breasts hang as she moves through the space of nothingness.

Everything about their conversation is pointless.

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

There is a she and a he that moves through the space, looking and smelling the dentures of human experiences.

Every movement they make, creates a shift, when she speaks the space listens, when he moves the space shakes.

There’s an element of surprise in the moments of clarity.

Their confusion creates a disturbance.

When their face falls, their reality becomes their decline When their face falls, their moments become human.

Every notion is considered in an unconsidered manner.

Can you see them?

Can you hear them? They dance like lions in the wild.

Their feet are lined with dirt and grit; the smell of body odour perfumes the space.

Magnesium and fish!

Photograph: Rosie Cooper (rxcrose.com) Nunns Yard, Norwich

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One thing leads to the other; nothing is broken, nothing is shaped.

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Because of Hair

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

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Hair as an adornment fascinates me.

Because, as a material and a bodily matter, hair is simply a coverage.

However, when placed in the context of race, identity and gender, hair is more than a material for adornment. It is a language, a symbol and most importantly, hair can conceal.

Because of Hair

To make the masks, I collected roughly around 10 to 11 black bin bags full of hair, during my second and third year of University in Aberystwyth School of Art. I was also given hair by friends and family.

The hair came from all types of people: white, black, male, female and sheep. Aberystwyth has many sheep and occasionally on walks, you find remnants of their hair everywhere.

I used super glue mixed with hair gel to bind the hair masks, then I sewed some together and tired the rest to each other. They started off as dreadlocks and then grew more bodily. I used chicken wire, which was given to me by one of the porters at the Aberystwyth School of Art, to create a skeletal base for the facial masks.

I now have three masks; two have been used for many performances and the one that I am wearing in this performance for In Between Time has only been used once.

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

The shift between the function of hair and the phenomenology that comes with hair becomes a process, a question of trying to understand how such material can be so political.

Photograph: Rosie Cooper (rxcrose.com) Nunns Yard, Norwich

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When I beat, the drum gives up its secrets.

On reflection, my ongoing research Because of Hair is like a drum with a bottomless pit. When I beat, the drum gives up its secrets. When I stop, the materials from that drum create other drums. The hair mask is more than an object, because for me it’s childhood dreams coming to life. When I came to England I saw myself in the mirror and what I saw was difference. They shaved my hair before we came because they thought it would make me look more presentable. But I remember seeing other children with longer and more beautiful hair then mine. You see, the dreams of wanting long hair came to me when I moved to England.

As I grew, I realised that my hair was different, even in comparison to other black females. I have concluded that although obvious but perhaps hidden from my view. In every performance with the hair mask, I am creating a story that has no end. These stories purge my mind and their stories that come from an ongoing process of trying to understand the self in relation to the other.

Because of Hair

Moreover, I must say, that over the past few weeks, my mind has suffered and my body has responded with an outcry. So much has happened and everything seems to be present at the same time. Sometimes I get flashbacks from my past life and then I wear the hair mask and suddenly the painful moments become powerful moments.

Photograph: Rosie Cooper (rxcrose.com) Nunns Yard, Norwich

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Because of Hair

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

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For the woman who hugged me and recognized that behind the hair is a river of blood hidden in the sinew of life, thank you. For the people who took flowers out of my hands and refused to see the colour of my skin thank you. For the children who saw beauty and refused to see horror, thank you.

Hair is a political tool layered with history. Sitting like a crown, hair is a material that holds resistance, gender, ethnicity, political movements, religion and so much more.

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

Hair is a political tool layered with history.

When a black woman wears the hair of many European women on her face she is deemed to be practicing voodoo. When a white man finds African imaginary fascinating and exercises his privilege by using materials, that are scared to a culture raped by greed, he is a genius. So much to discuss, so much more to understand.

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For a moment time stopped and racism over shadowed a powerful and a joyful celebration of living bodies in space.

Sight was restricted but pulse and hearing were alert. Because of hair; the dichotomy of culture and identity is my beautiful tale of finding one’s self in the sight of darkness. Moving with the mask of hair I felt so free, so alive so raw; yet it was obvious that for some people this was an image of something to be feared. The beautiful moments of touch, sensitivity and tears brings joy and strength to my slightly bruised soul.

When I wear the mask, I remember my life like a rhythm of heartbeats mixed with the tempo of underwater movements. Unheard and unseen like the miracle of the womb, my story unfolds.

Because of Hair

I truly love people even those who hurt me, that is why I don’t hate those who shouted racist words at me, or even the man who refused to help me when I asked for his help.

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

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I don’t blame them! but I blame history for not being truthful.

How can a land be wise when it is formed out of evil, lies and the blood of Africa?

The crowns and jewels of the motherland.

Dry like a dried-up womb Dead and sucking life Giving nothing back.

You murders You won’t see any good, you won’t be any good You murders You killers of the innocent You won’t die, you won’t live You rubber’s of men, killers of beauty Scorners and haters Your souls will rot, your minds will cease Because of Hair

You murders; you scornful killers Your souls will perish, your bodies will decay.

Your spirits will roam in hell; never at peace shall your hate decapitate you You murders of men, you killers of justice.

Wisdom will have her way with you; death will roam your families.

The earth will rejoice to see your blood; the soil will reject your flesh.

The worms will consume your being, they will eat your flesh, and they will reject your substance and shit in your eyes.

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

You kill for pleasure, you steal to please

You murders, you will not see any good.

These times prove that humanity needs a lot of work, am I an image of fear when fear lives in the heart of the common man? I do not makework for White or Black people, I make work for humanity.

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Because of Hair

The Dichotomy of Culture and Identity

#Becauseofhair

@VEzugha