Head Shaving

The 8th of May

Head Shaving Performance in the Noorderplantsoen park

I. THE PURPOSE

I wanted to shave half of my head because it is not a usual thing in protesting and revolutionary head-shaving movements, sub-cultures, or showing solidarity. Society is familiar with the reasons for head shaving. People could describe intentions of shaved individuals' image. But then a half of the head - through the line of human body symmetry center - a half head all shaved, and the other half left with hair - this image is not a usual way to say something. I have decided to add some meaning for the half shaved head image. This image intended to represent duality of good and bad in each mentality. Therefore, the duality can be found in spiritual knowledge because most religions have dual God representations. Representation of duality can bring importance to remind society about dual human nature (create and destroy). Philosophy of dual human nature could confuse trans-humanism and ask the question - who are we? 

Half shaved head could be not only a symbol of duality, but the potential to be transforming into a protest against being a bio robot in times when the identity of people is set by digital, technological world values and progress.

II. THE PERFORMANCE AND CONSEQUENCES

'For the performance, I took a large light blue blanket and a small altar to burn my hair on it. Besides it, I had other picnic goodies with me: my ukulele, a sketchbook, and a book about art theory. I took them just to pretend that everything is happening in its usual way: hanging out with friends in the park, enjoying the sun, laying down on the blanket, and reading with a cup of coffee. All this helped for one unusual thing - head shaving to interconnect with the normality of the park's activities' - I wrote after the event.

 

'Now I understood that I signed for this idea not only to represent it to the wide public but most sincerely to experient it. I did not have any psychological prognosis - how a new look would affect me. I thought that, I would feel the same as usual - the same soul in the body. But this change triggers me; it triggers my core, my identity, soul as well. Outside of my body, I feel wounded - I am tired of my extremely different look at mirrors and looks from other people - sometimes long gazings. I would like to say to everybody why I am doing this, but it is impossible to catch everybody or to 'attack' with a long speech answering 'why' I look like that. So, people who do not know me create their theories. Most of them - I could recognize - feel sorry for me. Most importantly, I by myself feel distracted by the new look. I feel differently. I already miss having half of my hair on the right side. I miss that feeling of how wind breeze plays with my hair on the shaved side. I miss softness on the shaved side. And brushing it with a hairbrush. And all that means - I let go of an important part of me. I refuse egocentrism and accept myself without liking it. As in the art world, we try to understand artworks without egocentrism, with my minor experience of shaving head, I try to live without egocentrism, and in a dual experience - two symmetric sides of my head look different with the parts of past and present.' - thoughts after the performance.

Why did I need to stay secure with usual and ritual things, daily activities? Head shaving was and is related to spirituality, the monthly or weekly routine of some people's lifestyle. Why did the idea of head shaving a few hours before the actual execution intimidate me? Why few thoughts in my head whispered: I was supposed to be crazy, abnormal, there should be something wrong with my mental health. 'It is not normal!' - repeating thought did not leave me, and while the actual shaving happened, it changed its tone into a compliment. I was admiring the abnormality of the action because it proved - there is a distance between imagination and execution. Not everything in the head is supposed to be undeniable and the only true. The egocentric mind makes critic vision and judgment extremely subjective. Therefore the action of head shaving made my mind think more objectively.

After the unique performance event, the other part of the head-shaving (now shaved head) experience followed. The look of my half-exposed skull shape and the other half of my head still covered with hair reminded me of how long it took to have its length. Unfortunately, the fact of hair growth time gave me a little depression. But reasons to experience and represent the duality of a human being washed away my sorrows. I sincerely want to live without depending on my image, which does represent nothing spiritual. And most importantly, the body is not obliged to be representative for the public eye. Nevertheless, it falsely represents something every day, every hour when other eyes of a human being have an opportunity to look at somebody's... 'shell' behind which there is more than just a human flesh. Human behavior - to meet others by its look - was changed facing my duality representing head. 'Why?' - the question from other humans for me was good to hear. It made others think! 

III. CREDITS

The head-shaving would not happen without experienced hairdresser Sofia Talaiporou who is courageously experimenting with any kind of hair. Therefore I trusted half of my hair to be shaved by her. Many credits to Sofia's friend Eleni Mitre who helped to record and to take pictures of the performance's important parts.