New exhibition in Sheffield explores the untold stories of hair

Hair: Untold Stories, which opens at Weston Park Museum next week, showcases t he work of artists, filmmakers and designers alongside historical and contemporary objects and archive material that all reflect our connection with our hair. The exhibition unlocks some personal, surprising and powerful stories that range from local salons to the global hair trade. It explores human hair as a material that has been used to make jewellery, clothes, even armour and highlights its remarkable qualities which mean it can be used in a variety of contexts, including in environmental protection.

The show is the inaugural exhibition created by the Museums and Galleries Network for Exhibition Touring (MAGNET), a partnership between Sheffield Museums, The Horniman Museum in London and Tullie House Museum in Carlisle. “The curators at the Horniman took the lead on this show and we have all worked together to create the content,” explains Lucy Cooper, exhibitions curator at Sheffield Museums. “We haven’t used objects from our own collection but we have commissioned new work and focussed on the contemporary aspect of the show.”

The commissions include a series of photographs of Sheffield hairdressers celebrating their skills, approaches and care for their clients. Among the portraits is one of Waqar Amin, who runs Ali’s Hair and Cosmetics, the first shop in Sheffield city centre to offer a wide range of hair and beauty products from both Afro-Caribbean and European hair styles. Also featured is Tyrah Myrie, owner of Tyrah’s Touch, who works in partnership with Yorkshire Housing Association and Adira, a service supporting Black people with mental health issues, to offer free haircuts to those most in need.

The themes in the exhibition include our complicated relationship with our hair – from how the way it looks can affect our mood, to its close ties with identity and how entangled it is with society’s expectations and even the way we judge others.

“Working on the different themes was really interesting,” says Cooper. “We had discussions with our curators and a panel of community curators, collecting stories to create new content, such as lockdown hair stories. We felt, here in Sheffield, with the museum’s proximity to Weston Park Cancer Hospital, that one of the themes we wanted to explore was hair loss. So one of the salons in the portrait series provides human hair for wigs and hairpieces for cancer patients. And there is also a film called It’s Only Hair which explores people’s experiences of hair loss and what effect it had on their lives.”

Amongst the exhibition’s highlights are a striking full-length dress made of human hair by artist Jenni Dutton; intricate clothing and jewellery made from hair by Naga people in India; a film by Sheffield College Hair and Beauty students that captures the sensory experience of a haircut; artwork by Sheffield artist Kedisha Coakley examining Afro-Caribbean natural hair and its place in women’s lives; a large-scale wig by artist Isaac Olvera; plus historic and contemporary hair jewellery made by Swedish women. “We also have a section about pet hair which looks at dog owners who have styled their hair to look like their dogs which is quite quirky and eccentric,” says Cooper. “And an immersive installation of a barbershop, on loan from the Migration Museum, where you can hear the stories that people have told their barber. We also learn about the cultural significance of hair – when we spoke to Sheffield hairdressers, they said that they came out of the pandemic feeling more valued by their customers because they hadn’t been able to get haircuts during lockdown.”

Cooper hopes that the exhibition will be a thought-provoking experience for visitors. “I would like people to think about the importance of hair to them personally and more widely,” she says. “And its amazing properties – there’s a bit in the show about special absorbent mats made from human hair to soak up oil spills in the ocean. I think the exhibition will really surprise people and encourage them to perhaps view hair in a different light.”

At Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, February 10-October 29. Free entry.