Martha, Soirée Series
Galia Gluckman
About the SessionHair Matters: A Selection of Works from the Georgina Jaffee Collection is a tightly focused, thematic auction that initiates a critical dialogue on the profound significance of hair in contemporary artistic practice. Featuring a cohort of accomplished contemporary artists, primarily those working from the African continent or within the global African diaspora, this selection of works is guided by a singular conceptual mandate: every work turns to hair as a powerful nexus, serving as medium, metaphor, or focal point of exploration.
Hair Matters illuminates the diverse interpretations and artistic vocabularies through which hair shapes identity, memory, and meaning across cultures, nations, and histories. Featuring artists such as Léonce Raphaël Agbodjélou (Benin), Ifeoma U. Anyaeji (Nigeria), Sethembile Msezane (South Africa), and Hank Willis Thomas (United States), the auction examines the aesthetics, politics, and sociology of hair, with particular emphasis on African perspectives and the connective threads that link the continent and its global diasporas.
Curatorial Voices: Natasha Becker, Jared Leite, Vida Madighi-Oghu and Sihle Motsa.
About this Item
signed, dated and inscribed with the title on the reverse
Provenance
SMAC, Stellenbosch, 2020.
The Georgina Jaffee Hair Matters Collection.
Exhibited
SMAC, Stellenbosch, Soirée, 12 September to 5 December 2020.
Notes
“Following the Coronavirus, Gluckman became interested in how societies had previously responded in times of social and economic uncertainty. She looked to the 1920 flapper parties and the ‘excess’ and compulsion to let go and have fun in times of strife. Her interest in parties as a social setting manifested in tactile pieces resembling hair, which symbolised different personas at a party. Martha was intended to represent a female person with artificial blonde hair, who tries extremely hard to ‘look good’ yet ironically these efforts result in a lacklustre look.”
Text courtesy of Corrigall & Co.
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