Holly Block | Flick & Cut (or Dolls)

1 – 29 March 2018

Holly Block, Flick & Cut (or Dolls), 2017, single channel video, 5 minutes duration

Flick & Cut (or Dolls) is a single channel video work that explores gestures associated with hair. The piece features three female performers who are bald and semi nude. Within a vacant white space, the performers enact a series of gestures with their non-existent hair, such as fringe flicks, flirtatiously twirling, or sensual hair tossing. Its duration is 5 minutes long and it is silent. 

From an altered and very specific view of the world* Flick & Cut (or Dolls) highlights and critiques wider social and cultural behaviours and norms around sexuality, femininity, personal power and identity. By isolating actions from associated object, the performance amplifies the absurdity of these ritualised behaviours and investigates the cultural significance of both the object (hair) and the gestures that surround it. The work was developed via an extensive workshop process led by the artist, as director and choreographer, working closely with the participants to create this performance of a gendered body to expose the vulnerable, internalised performance bound up in the construction of ones identity. 

*The genesis for this work came from an ongoing exploration of the artists personal history with Alopecia Universale (the complete loss of hair on ones head and body) at the age of 29.