BACK TO HER ROOTS ] Christina Dy on how to paint hair

Jonathan, 2009

CD started hair drawings four years ago as abstracted portraits. Drawn in a subtractive process, CD shades the entire field in charcoal black and simultaneously draws with an eraser and fills in details with graphite. The tangible and tactile becoming more so evident as the highlights are erased in. She starts with photographing her sitter's hair, then scaling up the images and abstracting them completely. They are anonymous, but present very intimate clues as to the identity of the subjects. How the curls fall or the waves turn, the angles of a widow's peak, or the twists of a crown puyo- these are individual and unique landscape markers of our crowns. Hair is our expression of identity, a carrier of our DNA, an organic marker of every person's individuality. One of the commissioned pieces is her self-portrait. The artist offers new possibilities of portraiture.

Nagkukulot kaya si CD?

We love Rez Cortez's hair here and this photograph, too. We just want to share it.

Christina Dy will be showing Roots, new commissioned portraits of her signature charcoal hair series, at SLab's 20Square Gallery from Wednesday, 23 September to Saturday, 17 October, 2009 from 6-9PM. CD is one of this year's CCP 13 Artists awardees.