One Big Chop, Charli Payne, FILET, 2022
Situated in the heart of residential East London, ‘One Big Chop’ features a new, site-specific installation focusing on the position of the black male and the presumptions of gender roles, as well as binary aesthetics within contemporary culture. In this installation, Charli Payne uses Filet to explore the skills, processes and experiences involved when getting your hair styled as a Black-British male within a familiar setting visually referencing a typical Black-British family home.
From creating maps from canerows to exploring protective styles that care for and maintain natural afro hair; braiding, locking and twisting are art forms with a rich cultural history of resistance and celebration. However in western culture, specifically here in the UK, there are connotations linked to black hair that surface and are further exaggerated when considering the position of the black male. Dreadlocks span the installation and connect the space to the performers real hair. Performances happened through out consisting of the artist Charli Payne locking up peoples hair and having conversations with them about their relationship to their hair. These intimate moments highlighted the carthaticness of sharing amidst the nostalgia of getting your hair done.
Prior to the exhibition Charli Payne ran collective dreadlock making days, teaching people how to make dreads and begining the conversations that were at the heart of the exhibition.
Insta photography by RIta Silva
From creating maps from canerows to exploring protective styles that care for and maintain natural afro hair; braiding, locking and twisting are art forms with a rich cultural history of resistance and celebration. However in western culture, specifically here in the UK, there are connotations linked to black hair that surface and are further exaggerated when considering the position of the black male. Dreadlocks span the installation and connect the space to the performers real hair. Performances happened through out consisting of the artist Charli Payne locking up peoples hair and having conversations with them about their relationship to their hair. These intimate moments highlighted the carthaticness of sharing amidst the nostalgia of getting your hair done.
Prior to the exhibition Charli Payne ran collective dreadlock making days, teaching people how to make dreads and begining the conversations that were at the heart of the exhibition.
Insta photography by RIta Silva