The questions made me think of ways to represent or see myself beyond “hair,” or perhaps away from any bodily, aesthetic or figurative expression. This collage is a representation of myself based on photos, artworks, songs and quotes that are dear to me. It is a self portrait that tries to abstract from my corporeal existence.
–
Why do I have hair?
– biological/evolutionary level: my hairy ancestors were less prone to damage on their heads, skin cancer etc. so they were able to live longer/better and reproduce
But there are many bald people doing fine today. Why do you choose to keep your hair?
– I find it pretty.
Why?
– I like how I look, I’m used to my hair, and I find other people with similar hair, pretty.
You could get used to no hair and you also find some bald people pretty.
– I’m scared that I’ll look terrible without hair and it would take me a while to get used to bald.
Why couldn’t you wait for how long it takes?
– Because it’d hurt my self esteem.
Why?
– Because I base how I feel partially on how pretty I think I am.
Why?
– I don’t know…
This exercise felt a bit weird because my mind is always two questions ahead of my writing, so here are other topics I thought I would boil down to after asking Why: body neutrality, social acceptance, stereotypical femininity, my hair is a source of compliments many times (?).