This is a collective of women artists exploring hair through conversation, process, and discovery culminating in a collaborative group exhibit at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven, CT from January 13 – February 20, 2022.
Artists Sherese Francis, Alana Ladson, Candace Leslie, Jennifer McCandless, Abigail Simon, Megan Shaughnessy, Yvonne Shortt, and Christine Tyler came together in a virtual space every week beginning in November 2021 to discuss their work and create a space for artistic discovery. In addition, they will be making space together in the gallery and audience members will witness the transformation between artists as they engage in creativity.
Megan’s artwork featured in Hair @ Ely
RINSE AND REPEAT, 2022
video 2m 42secs
SEXY BEAST, 2022
mixed media (photo, canvas, wood, acrylic paint, mirrors, led lights, and human hair)
STRAND
CURATED BY MEGAN SHAUGHNESSY
Featured Artists
Kevin Van Aelst
D. Douglas
Kaitlin Fung
Shorty Greene
Paul Holmes
Kate Kretz
Rosemary Meza-DesPlas
Jody MacDonald
Caitlin Miller
Liz Miller
Jean Scott
Yvonne Shortt
Amarilis Singh
Jay Sullivan
Sam Sundius
Jody Wood
Curator’s Statement
STRAND is a celebration of the power and significance of all hair including facial, crown, and body hair. The artists showcased in this exhibition highlight the connection hair has to personal, gender, culture, social, and racial identities. Through painting, photographs, sewn images, sculpture, mixed media, video, and spoken word you will see how hair not only has the ability to inspire, empowering self-expression, but it can also create heartache and pain, force unnecessary gender stereotypes, and symbolize the passing of time, illness, and even death.
December 6 – February 6, 2022
Megan Shaughnessy 