2024 Grad Show

Akash Dhillon

AUArts Grad Show Screenshot 2024-05-17 at 11.47.41 AM

Ceramics

Through rooting my thinking in the philosophical grounds of Julia Haft-Candell, Paulo Freire, and Luna Dolezal, in my practice, I use clay, rebar, and inspirations from hair and industrial sites, to build upon ideas of finding value in waste and the abject. I explore questions I have about materiality, structure, and social expectations of body hair within our society, which manifests itself in how I approach these conventions personally. I explore embracing failure of intended use or function of rebar alongside discarded hair and observe how embracing these “failed” moments return agency and understanding to these abject subjects.

Coil and Mimic "Coil and Mimic" began as an exploration of emulating the shape and texture of wet hair and macroscopic images of hair shafts splitting. I began to contextualize the hairlike qualities of this work to the industrial nature of rebar to explore and strengthen an intersection between my subjects of hair and rebar.
Curve and Split "Curve and Split" continued to explore the shape and texture of macroscopic cross sections of hair but its surface came to emulate rebar in its more industrial metallic finish. In understanding the aspects of these similarities and differences between rebar and hair I moved forward to evolve my clay coils to mimic, abstract, and reassign the meaning of both subjects.
Bend and Break "Bend and Break" turns to present my subjects particularly rebar as meltable, bendable, breakable, and bodily. These formal abstractions challenge the material quality of rebar as it is made to be functional and resist all the qualities as presented in this work.
Flux and Fuse "Flux and Fuse" looks towards abstraction allowing its metallic surface to emulate rebar while appearing melted defying the convention of rebar's materiality and functionality. In particular, it revealed itself to be bodily, industrial, intestinal, prompting a conversation of bodily waste.
Cut and Stubble "Cut and Stubble" is a conversation of the removal of body hair in context to rebar and the social expectation of bodily grooming and labor within the West. Contextualizing this idea against Luna Dolezal’s criticism of western expectations surrounding the unnecessary pressure of body hair removal to uphold an “acceptable” standard of bodily invisibility; I considered how I could challenge this expectation with my two subjects of hair and rebar in conversation with shaving legs and facial hair.

Hair and Rebar 2023

Within this series I utilized Paulo Freire's concept “conscientization" as a call to action in understanding what I have created and how this can or will change as my work evolves and how I situate myself in the role of “the maker” within my craft. Referencing macroscopic images of hair shafts splitting and Freire’s theory to guide my aesthetic choices of emulating wet hair forms through coils with a mimicked macroscopic texture of hair, Hair and Rebar 2023 emerged. In understanding the aspects of the similarities and differences between rebar and clay I moved forward to evolve my clay coils to mimic, abstract, and reassign the meaning of both subjects.

Hair and Rebar 2023 AUArts Grad Show IMG_2672 4
Coil and Mimic "Coil and Mimic" began as an exploration of emulating the shape and texture of wet hair and macroscopic images of hair shafts splitting. I began to contextualize the hairlike qualities of this work to the industrial nature of rebar to explore and strengthen an intersection between my subjects of hair and rebar.
Hair and Rebar 2023 AUArts Grad Show IMG_2673 4
Curve and Split "Curve and Split" continued to explore the shape and texture of macroscopic cross sections of hair but its surface came to emulate rebar in its more industrial metallic finish. In understanding the aspects of these similarities and differences between rebar and hair I moved forward to evolve my clay coils to mimic, abstract, and reassign the meaning of both subjects.
Hair and Rebar 2023 AUArts Grad Show IMG_2674 4
Bend and Break "Bend and Break" turns to present my subjects particularly rebar as meltable, bendable, breakable, and bodily. These formal abstractions challenge the material quality of rebar as it is made to be functional and resist all the qualities as presented in this work.
Hair and Rebar 2023 AUArts Grad Show IMG_2675 4
Flux and Fuse "Flux and Fuse" looks towards abstraction allowing its metallic surface to emulate rebar while appearing melted defying the convention of rebar's materiality and functionality. In particular, it revealed itself to be bodily, industrial, intestinal, prompting a conversation of bodily waste.
Hair and Rebar 2023 AUArts Grad Show Screenshot 2024-05-17 at 2.09.05 PM
Cut and Stubble "Cut and Stubble" is a conversation of the removal of body hair in context to rebar and the social expectation of bodily grooming and labor within the West. Contextualizing this idea against Luna Dolezal’s criticism of western expectations surrounding the unnecessary pressure of body hair removal to uphold an “acceptable” standard of bodily invisibility; I considered how I could challenge this expectation with my two subjects of hair and rebar in conversation with shaving legs and facial hair.
Transection and Tension Series (#1) To continue my material exploration and abstraction with clay and rebar, I created the Transection and Tension Series inspired by the research study title “Human Hair Shape is Programmed From the Bulb” from the British Journal of Dermatology, which examines growth and morphology, particularly the asymmetry in curly hair follicles in comparison to straight hair follicle cross sections (Thibaut). Both materials clay and rebar become abstracted mimicry of both curly and straight macroscopic hair.
Transection and Tension Series (#2) To continue my material exploration and abstraction with clay and rebar, I created the Transection and Tension Series inspired by the research study title “Human Hair Shape is Programmed From the Bulb” from the British Journal of Dermatology, which examines growth and morphology, particularly the asymmetry in curly hair follicles in comparison to straight hair follicle cross sections (Thibaut). Both materials clay and rebar become abstracted mimicry of both curly and straight macroscopic hair.
Mimic and Pile "Mimic and Pile" uses clay coils mimicking rebar as well as traditional rebar itself in a small pile within the corner of a room. The conversation of mimicry between the clay and rebar in this work questions which subject is imitating the other in while drawing inspiration from a discarded mass of hair. It reconciles the abject qualities and settings of both subjects, questioning which material is imitating what subject as well as their social conventions and expectations in regard to labour.

Hair and Rebar 2024

Through rooting my thinking in the philosophical grounds of Julia Haft-Candell, Paulo Freire, and Luna Dolezal, in my practice, I use clay, rebar, and inspirations from hair and industrial sites, to build upon ideas of finding value in waste and the abject. I explore questions I have about materiality, structure, and social expectations of body hair within our society, which manifests itself in how I approach these conventions personally. I explore embracing failure of intended use or function of rebar alongside discarded hair and observe how embracing these “failed” moments return agency and understanding to these abject subjects.

Hair and Rebar 2024 AUArts Grad Show Untitled Artwork
Transection and Tension Series (#1) To continue my material exploration and abstraction with clay and rebar, I created the Transection and Tension Series inspired by the research study title “Human Hair Shape is Programmed From the Bulb” from the British Journal of Dermatology, which examines growth and morphology, particularly the asymmetry in curly hair follicles in comparison to straight hair follicle cross sections (Thibaut). Both materials clay and rebar become abstracted mimicry of both curly and straight macroscopic hair.
Hair and Rebar 2024 AUArts Grad Show Untitled Artwork
Transection and Tension Series (#2) To continue my material exploration and abstraction with clay and rebar, I created the Transection and Tension Series inspired by the research study title “Human Hair Shape is Programmed From the Bulb” from the British Journal of Dermatology, which examines growth and morphology, particularly the asymmetry in curly hair follicles in comparison to straight hair follicle cross sections (Thibaut). Both materials clay and rebar become abstracted mimicry of both curly and straight macroscopic hair.
Hair and Rebar 2024 AUArts Grad Show Untitled_Artwork 36
Mimic and Pile "Mimic and Pile" uses clay coils mimicking rebar as well as traditional rebar itself in a small pile within the corner of a room. The conversation of mimicry between the clay and rebar in this work questions which subject is imitating the other in while drawing inspiration from a discarded mass of hair. It reconciles the abject qualities and settings of both subjects, questioning which material is imitating what subject as well as their social conventions and expectations in regard to labour.

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