BEAUTY SUPPLY STORE ON CENTINELA WITH THE BLINKING SIGN, 2024
Overview:
Beauty Supply Store on Centinela with the Blinking Light (2024) at Bread & Salt Gallery was a durational performance running ~2:30 hours. The Braider makes her debut appearance, dressed head to toe in several layers of Black clothing: two dresses, five skirts and three tops. A hoop skirt gives her bottom half a bell shape or similarly the butt of a giant spider. Layers of hair are affixed to The Braider’s wrists, her waist, protruding atop her stomach and around her head, shielding her vision.
What it felt like:
Pulling from my body again,
Feeling for the hair, I know is there
Feeling it dislodge, slide against its neighbors, and release into the world
Into my palms
And into the twist
Entering new hair to join an existing twist
Requires a strong hold so they don’t slip
Like arms wrapping the length of arms
Holding on and matting together for life
Pulling from my body again
Feeling for the hair, I know is there
Feeling it dislodge, slide against its neighbors, and release into the world
Sometimes, they fall out of my palms
Sometimes, they gather in clumps on the floor
Pooling, missing this go around
Watching me pass them
I hear them wallowing
They believe I will forget them
But I won’t
Pulling from my body again
Feeling for the hair, I know is there
Feeling it dislodge, the sound
Vibrating the pit of my stomach, from which the hair comes from as it slides against its neighbors and is released into the world
Into my palms
I shake and smooth the hair
Removing shedding and excess
Preparing it before it’s integrated
Into the twist
Leaving puddles on the floor
I don’t know exactly how long it’s been
But I can feel the hours deep within the tissue of my lower back
My hands are sore but used to the abuse, they haven’t given up on me yet
I rotate them, they crick-crack back at me
I sit as I twist, leaning forward for relief
I feel surrounded, though I cannot see anyone who may surround me
I can only see in front of me
The twist forming and growing in length
The tension of the twists, alive in my hands
Waiting to jump and jolt out if my grip lessened
Firmly holding then pulling from my body again
Feeling for the hair, I know is there
Feeling it dislodge, the sound vibrating the pit of my stomach
From where the hair comes from as it slides against its neighbors and is released into the world
Into my palms
Into the twist
I gathered the wallowers who watched on in pools they thought I’d forgotten
I swallowed them for next time