Edisa at work, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
As a child, dance artist Edisa Weeks attended Quaker meetings with her family. These meetings involved group meditation and sharing, conducted without leaders or hierarchy. As an adult artist, she found herself in a field defined by elitism and a rigid division of roles. The artists were expected to demonstrate their skill, passion, and cleverness to a separated, passive audience. There was none of the mutuality or intimacy of the Quaker meetings of her youth. She wanted her art to be a way of connecting with people, not a way of asserting her superiority to them.
Edisa is far from alone in this impulse to break through the “fourth wall” – it’s been a major thrust in experimental performing arts since at least the 1960’s. Her dance company, Delirious Dance, has done things like performing in private living rooms, exploring through movement the awkwardness of encounters between strangers.
Chashama, an arts organization based in midtown Manhattan, invites visual artists and performers to use storefront windows in the city as special venues to reach a broad audience including many that might not enter a gallery or theater. When she was offered access to this forum, Edisa hit on the idea of inviting people to get their hair done. The wacky sense of fun with which she tackled the task was a hit, and since the first window event, Edisa has done people’s hair at many parties, benefits and festivals.
Applying dinosaurs, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
The conventional beauty school approach to hair essentially moves people towards conformity with certain established style norms, smoothing over their peculiarities. Edisa, on the other hand, tries to push the quirks to the limit. Upon meeting each new “client”, Edisa’s first question is, “How crazy can I get?” The response to this question provides the first gauge of the personality she’s working with. As she begins to play with the person’s hair, she’s assessing the shape of the head, the quality and strength of the hair and what it might support. At the same time, she’s observing the style and colors of the person’s clothing, how they speak, how they respond to touch, and so on. She’s surrounded her workstation with a huge array of flowers, toys, and sculptural and decorative items, from which she chooses the elements of her construction, weaving extravagant headdresses that may be silly, scary, or lovely.
Some of Edisa's decorative items, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt
Edisa's hands, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt
Edisa weaves flowers into a child's hair, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt
I was acquainted with Edisa and had seen her performance pieces, but the first time I saw her doing hair designs (at a benefit party for Chashama), I was amazed at the speed with which she worked and at the variety of what she created. The people wearing her creations looked blissful, as though their own unique beauty had been perceived and manifested in art, on their own heads. I immediately identified with what Edisa was doing, because the impulse to use art to connect to people is exactly what I’ve explored both through body painting and through portraiture. So many artists use their talents to put themselves above people, to impress them or preach to them. It is beautiful to encounter an artist like Edisa, who seeks rather to celebrate and uplift her audience. It’s a mutual gift – they offer her their heads as a creative playground, and she shows them how much fun can be had there.
Applying a feather boa, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
Queen of Burlesque, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Head, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
Cleopatra, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
Applying flies, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt
Catching flies with honey, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt
Fiber Optics, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
Zombie Apocalypse, 2009, photo by Alex Kahan
How to impress your friends, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt
You can see more examples of Edisa’s hair designs at her Delirious Hair Design website.
Photos in this post were taken by me and by Alex Kahan at Edisa’s Delirious Hair booth at the DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival last month in Brooklyn.
