Description: Barber shops evolved to be a cultural staple and a place of refuge for the Black community. Just as they found their safe space, I was able to find mine in the St. Joseph’s Village Hairsrtylist Barber shop. I was greeted with a warm welcome, and despite their puzzled looks for the request that I wanted, they did not further question my motives, but instead helped me and supported me throughout the process. I even got help from a random stranger. I wanted to create an immersive environment, so I used fabric to create a background, and spray paint to color code the entire piece to match the colors of the iconic barber shop pole. I used mirrors and spray painted the word “dysphoria” on it to represent the feeling of dysphoria everytime I looked into the mirror, but it would be upside down to represent the confused and chaotic feeling of it. Then I spray painted the word onto the fabric, but in the correct format. Then I got picture frames and I spray painted it, and took photos of people who have shaved heads to replace them in the picture frame. I replicated the barber shop pole on a cardboard pole and spray painted the accurate colors onto the pole. Then I also spray painted the tools used for the barber shop in white and placed them on a tray that I spray painted red to match the colors on the cape.
Thank you to the PSS Art Fund for helping fund some of the project! Without your help, this beautiful creation would have not come together. Thank you again!
