Photo by Taylor Dabney
Written by Savannah Rake
At “Hair to There and Back Again,” Sonya Clark, a fibers artist known for using unconventional materials, shared a conversational and interactive lecture with a full auditorium at the SCAD Museum of Art on Wednesday night.
“To be a true artist, I believe you have to find your authentic obsession,” said Clark.
This is an idea Clark adopted from American writer Adam Gopnik, who is best known for his work in The New Yorker magazine. Gopnik addressed the idea of the authentic obsession in “Who was J.D. Salinger?” Clark shared her belief that every artist should find the obsession to theme their work that allows them to “unapologetically” create.
“If you can find your authentic obsession, then you will never be at a loss for what might come forth from your work,” said Clark.
Clarik is an accomplished fiber artist who takes pride in her rich cultural background.
“I think about individuality as being this construct of identifiers,” said Clark, “sort of the various tribes that we belong to. No one belongs to all of the tribes that I belong to. If you did, you would, in fact, be me.”
Her father is a psychiatrist from Trinidad and her mother is a nurse from Jamaica. She has roots in Scotland and Africa.
Clark spoke about the materials she uses, including cloth, leftover fibers from harvested sugar canes, cotton and silk threads, human hair and fine-tooth combs. Behind each piece of her artwork is the concept that art mediums exist as a collective design in which we “[partner] with our ancestors who have come before us.”
For Clark, all her materials culminate into one authentic obsession: hair.
In the Q&A portion of the lecture, Clark explained that “hair is DNA; it links us to our ancestors.” She said that, from a very young age, her mother instilled in her the idea that hair is sacred; it’s not something you should dispose of because it is a piece of you.
Said Clark, “I have to have the conversation with [friends who allow me to use their hair] and explain to them that I am essentially selling a piece of their body. They are going to be a commodity.”
Her obsession began when she was a child. She lived across the street from a family with 12 children. When Clark played at their house, she would sit between the knees of one of the older girls who would create a sculptural design from her hair.
“I felt like art,” said Clark.
