Cami Gossman
Hair of Mulan
Prompt: With a strong emphasis on the conceptual relationship between material and method, form and subject, students will create an artwork that will differ in media and surface. Random selections of invented non- Traditional materials will be chosen out of a grab bag as a launching point (the supplementary choice of materials and surface can be added as necessary to strengthen the idea). After a material is selected, students choose a location and/or object(s) from politics, history, pop culture to render and, in turn, create new meaning through irony, metaphor, poetics, commentary, critique, or symbolism.
This piece shows a traditional warrior’s helmet made with hair strands and a white silk base. The strands of hair come from the artist’s (my own) hair, collected over time, placed on both carefully and loosely. The hair is laid on top of silk with glue, and the silk is wrapped around cardboard. This helmet represents what helmet armor would have looked like during the period related to the legend of Hua Mulan.
