Friday 8 July 2011

Attraction/aversion

On a recent trip to Melbourne I got to catch up with all my favourite jewellery galleries/shops - Studio Ingot, eg etal, Gallery Funaki (a whole damn tray of Karl Fritsch rings) and the wonderful new Pieces of Eight gallery.

I saw some great work, but nothing that hit me as viscerally as these hair necklaces by Kerry Howley that a friend tipped me off to this week



I'm intrigued by what wearing these pieces would feel like. Howley calls the series attraction/aversion, and my first reaction on that basis was not about the taboo nature of hair, a la Vivian Lynn, but the physical sensation. To look at, you'd think they'd feel itchy and scratchy - there's something about those curves that suggests tickly ickiness. But then I recalled that I have long hair, and when it hits my throat and shoulders its almost imperceptible, and any tickle is quite pleasant. So my curiosity moved on to pondering how people would react if you were wearing a work like this - how outspoken they might be in their own attraction or aversion.

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