Tutu: All the hours in-between

Tutu: All the hours in-between is produced from my hair that I have collected (fallen from my head, not pulled out). The piece, resembling a ballerina's tutu which is unravelling, disintegrating. It is constructed by knotting a single strand of hair to another to produce various patterns that form a fabric. The thousands of knots tied to produce the piece evidence a disorder, anxiety that is channelled into an action with a purpose (tying the knots). The ideal ballet body refers to the feminine body which, like the body parts (the hair) in the work, are contorted into 'unnatural' states in order to achieve an idealised shape. But the strands of hair, like the body, resist this containment by curling, defying the constraint of the predetermined patterns.

The ballerina's tutu is worn while performing, where here, a product of process, the completed piece is a document of the work performed during the making. The ballerina's vigorous training is in a sense performance that is never seen, as is the construction of the work, as well as the notion that 'practice makes perfect' but when the feminine body is concerned, this perfection is never achieved. 'All the hours in-between' refers to the life lived while not involved in the construction or training, rather than focussing on all of the hours required to produce this installation.

The linear work is displayed suspended from the ceiling, in a liminal space, hinting to the liminality where by products of our body, separate from ourselves, exist.