Go London recently featured the work of UW-Madison’s Faisal Abdu’Allah and his work in the group exhibition, “Hogarth: London Voices, London Lives,” which aims to depict the social conditions of London in 2020.
Abdu’Allah’s work in the exhibition, which Go London calls the main event, features an actual haircut in a barber’s chair. An associate professor with the School of Education’s Art Department, Abdu’Allah is also an accomplished barber with over 30 years of experience.
Everyone who has their hair cut by Abdu’Allah will have a “before” polaroid taken and displayed during the exhibition, alongside his tintype photographs of his tools, including his scissors, razors, and combs.
For Abdu’Allah, a haircut is more than just cutting hair. He tells Go London that he sees it as a performance, a social commentary, which can express moments in our lives and perform our identities in certain ways. One thing that Abdu’Allah loves about haircuts is that they aren’t permanent: “I think permanence makes people complacent, it means there’s no room for change … We can be transformed in a matter of minutes.”
To learn much more about Abdu’Allah, his haircuts, and this exhibition, check out the entire in-depth report from Samuel Fishwick and his Go London report here.