Hirusutism, which is unwanted, male-patterned hair growth on the face of a woman, was discovered in the 1940s to be caused by a glandular disturbance. But where exactly the line was drawn between “normal” and “abnormal” hair growth was disputed, especially as the amount of acceptable hair differed from person-to-person and culture-to-culture.

Hairiness was linked to sexual inversion (non-normative gender behaviour), and glandular science translated old prejudices against hairy women into scientific language. Hormonal imbalances, of which a visible sign was hairiness, was linked to political extremism and anti-social behaviour.

Glandular science provided a way of controlling women’s bodies by regulating their hormonal secretion. Unwanted hair and what it symbolized to society could be got rid of in the 1950s and 1960s by prescribing hormonal drugs to women.

The practice was soon discontinued because of its potential side effects, which included cancer, stroke, heart attack, and more.

"Object", an artwork by Meret Oppenheim exhibited in 1936, is "Wrapped" evocatively in gazelle fur. This teacup has been an inspiration for most of my works being fascinated by the surrealistic world. 

This is a picture I took a few years ago in a Martin Margiela exhibition in Paris. It represents two mannequins wearing the famous wig coat's presented in one of his final shows in 2008. This surreal hair coat matches with the idea of the " Extendable Hair"

The tittle of this artwork is "Scratching the surface", and it was taken and edited by Karin Mack. After yesterday's lesson, I did more researches and found this first one on an instagram account about photography. I loved combining the process word with Hair. What I found so interesting about this images is the disappearing of the silhouette by scratching it and giving it this way an hairy aspect.

If hair is so important, it is because it is a solid and particularly resistant material. but it is also a material with a strong sentimental impact: a mother will keep the first strand of hair that will be cut off from her child, the promised ones will exchange hair as a pledge of love and of course will often keep the hair strands of a dead man to perpetuate his memory.

The performance 'Relation in Time' (October 1977) took place at Studio G7 in Bologna, Italy. Sitting quietly for seventeen hours, Abramovic and Ulay were connected to each other by means of their hair. They spent the first sixteen hours doing this alone, but visitors were allowed in to witness the final hour. The form of the performance 'Relation in Time' is sober, while the content is complex, a fusion of many ideas. Ulay and Abramovic are sitting in front of a white wall, their backs turned towards each other. Abramovic's hair, pulled back tightly into a ponytail, is tied to Ulay's ('Hair is a kind of antenna, like air roots of trees'). The spectator sees them in profile, each looking in a different direction. At the start of the seventeen-hour marathon, the are sitting up straight. Later, when fatigue sets in, Abramovic in particular begins to slump a little, so that their hair, which was tied together tightly, begins to become looser. The process makes heavy demands on both the physical and mental stamina of the artists. In a very simple way, the artists try to reach a state of harmony between body and mind. Ulay and Abramovic have to rely on their mental strength to be able to sit still for seventeen hours, without speaking. This process of the submission of the body to the mind is a central element in ancient eastern meditation. John Cage, who was an influence to Ulay and Abramovic, called this 'activity within inactivity'. Abramovic, referring to the 'Relation work' in general: 'We became a kind of polarity. He presented the male energy and I presented the female energy, and we tried to combine them'. From the very outset of their cooperation, in 1976, Ulay and Abramovic regarded themselves as 'androgynous', as a unity containing both male and female elements. This idea derives from Greek, Chinese and American Indian sources that describe the melting together of man and woman, resulting in a state of absolute harmony.