HAIR STORIES: ANYA PAINTSIL
Whatever you say squidward by Anya Paintsil acrylic, wool, human hair, kanekalon hair on hessian (2021).
One of the consequences of the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 was a renewed focus on our hair - uncut, undyed, unshaved - and whether we found alternative ways to disguise our roots or decided instead to embrace the new look. In its aftermath, several museums have examined the subject. In 2020, South Shields Museum & Gallery posted a call-out for the hair clippings from the first haircut taken by a member of the South Shields community, while the Horniman Museum in south London has an exhibition running until 19 June 2022 on the untold stories of hair. To find out more details CLICK HERE.
Hair has been moving off the head and into art objects for centuries but it has also enjoyed a resurgence in textile works, particularly among black female artists exploring this part of their identity and celebrating the cultural connotations of their style. 
Image: I am the predator and not the prey I by Anya Paintsil, acrylic, wool and synthetic hair on hessian, Tullie House Museum.
Anya Paintsil (b. 1993) is a Welsh Ghanaian artist who uses human and synthetic hair in her rug-making. In a recent interview with Katy Hessel, Anya drew a parallel between hair braiding and hooked rug techniques: “When I was about nine, I learned how to take my own braids out, make them look neat again, and reuse them. Later I began watching YouTube tutorials on how to braid Afro hair. This is how my experiments with my own hair first began. I realised there was a lot of cross-over between Black hair techniques and the latch hook rug technique my grandmother taught me…” 
Image: I am the predator and not the prey II by Anya Paintsil, acrylic, wool and synthetic hair on hessian, Tullie House Museum.
These three rugs share Paintsil’s sense of humour in their depiction of comically fierce faces with bared tombstone teeth combined with the soft fluffiness of the materials, which upend notions of female beauty and white-centric expectations. Whatever you say squidward shows the artist and her sister as children. I am the predator and not the prey I and II made using acrylic, wool and synthetic hair on hessian were recently acquired by Tullie House Museum and are on display alongside historic textile pieces such as a Margaret Warwick rag rug.