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Click thumbnail to view full
image. Thumbnail may be cropped.
1. Home is Where the Hair Is (untitled #7), 2004, 8” x 10”
2. Home is Where the Hair Is (untitled #3), 2004, 8” x 10”
3. Home is Where the Hair Is (untitled #9), 2004, 10” x 8”
4. Home is Where the Hair Is (untitled #8), 2004, 10” x 8”
5. Beautiful Homes (Foyer), 2007, 10-½” x 8”
6. Beautiful Homes (Bedroom), 2007, 7-½” x 10-¼”
7. Beautiful Homes (Den), 2007, 10-½” x 8”
8. Beautiful Homes (Kitchen), 10-½” x 8”
9. Roots (#2), 2007, site specific installation of roots wrapped in hair,
size variable
10. Roots (#2), detail
11. Untitled (Rocking Chair), 2008, artist's hair and adhesive applied
directly to the wall, size variable
12. Untitled (Rocking Chair), detail
9. Expect the Worst, 2006, artist's hair, paper, 6" x 24"
10. Expect the Worst, detail #2, 2006, artist's hair, paper, 6" x 6"
11. Expect the Worst, detail #4, 2006, artist's hair, paper, 6" x 6"
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images 1-4: artist's hair stitched into silver gelatin print
images 5-8: artist's hair stitched into paper |
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Older Work
16. Room, 2004, artist’s hair, 8’ x 12’
17. Room, detail
18. Symptoms of a Neurotic State, front cover, 2002, mixed media and artist’s hair,
4” x 6”
19. Symptoms of a Neurotic State, interior pages
20. Hair (#1), 2003, color Polaroid, 4-½” x 5”
21. Hair (#8), 2003, color Polaroid, 4-½” x 5” |
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Artist Statement
I gather the tips of my hair in my hand, arrange them so they form a straight edge, and stroke the strands with my index finger. I pull the bundle of hair up to my nose and inhale. It softly tickles my fingers, nose, and lips as I drag it along my face. In performing this simultaneously conscious and unconscious ritual again and again, I provide myself with comfort, quiet, the memory of my mother’s body, and a sense of safety. In other words, I make myself feel at Home.
As the product of a nomadic upbringing, moving eight times and living in six different states by the age of eighteen, I am interested in the relationship between the ideal of Home and the body. In our culture we tend to think of our 'hometown' or the house we grew up in when we think of what Home means. Growing up without the presence of these things, I turned to the more personal and immediate to create my sense of Home: nuclear family, relationships with friends, and my own body. The development of my repetitive 'hair ritual' is indicative of how I have come to view my body as a surrogate Home, a way to connect these ideals with something physical and tangible.
The possibility that simply having a body is all I need to create Home for myself is comforting and quite tempting in the face of feeling so 'homeless.' But I have found that this rationale falls short in significant ways, and I struggle with how to be truly content with the Home I was born into and the Home I continue to make for myself. My art is both a testament to this struggle as well as the tool I use to navigate my thoughts and emotions.
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| Education
2004
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, NC
BFA, Studio Art with a Concentration in Photography
Graduated with Highest Honors and Distinction
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Professional Experience
2009 - 2011
Fellow, Center for Emerging Visual Artists' Career Development Program, Philadelphia, PA
2005-2007
Photography Instructor,
Project Basho, Philadelphia, PA
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Collections
2005
Henry-Copeland Art Collection of the Carolina Union,
Chapel Hill, NC |
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| Selected Exhibitions
2009
Introduction '09, Moore College of Art and Design,
Philadelphia, PA
2008
Beautiful Homes, Reverie, Philadelphia, PA
Live With It, CEFVA at Photo West Gallery,
Philadelphia, PA
Heroes, Lump Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Adaptation: Celebrating Growth and Change, The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Brooke Hine
New Faces to City Hall: Emerging Philadelphia Area Artists, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
2007
Friends of Project Basho, Project Basho, Philadelphia, PA
POST: Philadelphia Open Studios Tour Exhibition,
Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Eileen Tognini
Gallery in the Garden, Orwigsburg, PA
Curator: Eileen Tognini
Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2007, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Hairdos That Solve Problems, The Hall, Inliquid at the Crane Arts Building,
Philadelphia, PA
2006
Selected Works, Doubleshots Café, Philadelphia, PA
2005
Beijing International Artist Camp Open Exhibit, Beijing International Art Camp, Beijing, China
2004
‘home is where the hair is’ and other works, Frank Porter Graham Student Union Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
LOOM 3 Labeler, Chatham Label Mill, Pittsboro, NC
home, body, John and June Allcot Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
2002
LOOM 2, Chatham Label Mill, Pittsboro, NC
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Images copyright © Brenna K. Murphy
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