If She Were a Barber
Single-Channel Video, 8minutes 56seconds;
Four-Channel Video Installation, 12 minutes; work-in-progress
If She Were a Barber explores identity, class, duties of care and female labour through contemplation of two seemingly disparate professions, the surgeon and the barber. A discussion with my mother around the necessity of a traditional marriage – a nuanced issue of both care and parental control – became a lens through which to consider the human body. The film expands on the conversation about life choices and divergent paths, pondering a universal hypothetical proposition, “If only … had …”. Had she not studied medicine, she may have followed her father into the hairdressing profession, working in a state-run barbershop or later, her own salon after the economic reform in 80s. These professions have an intertwined history that weaves the equally linked notions of intimacy, healing and harm.
Single-Channel Video, 8minutes 56seconds;
Four-Channel Video Installation, 12 minutes; work-in-progress
If She Were a Barber explores identity, class, duties of care and female labour through contemplation of two seemingly disparate professions, the surgeon and the barber. A discussion with my mother around the necessity of a traditional marriage – a nuanced issue of both care and parental control – became a lens through which to consider the human body. The film expands on the conversation about life choices and divergent paths, pondering a universal hypothetical proposition, “If only … had …”. Had she not studied medicine, she may have followed her father into the hairdressing profession, working in a state-run barbershop or later, her own salon after the economic reform in 80s. These professions have an intertwined history that weaves the equally linked notions of intimacy, healing and harm.
Still; Super 8mm and Digital; 2024