Art transcends all; space, time, materials — art knows no bar. And this has been proven to us over and over again through time.
I was scrolling through my Instagram feed a few nights ago and I saw this picture by artist Laetitia KY and it caught me off guard. At first glance, you know you’ve stumbled upon something powerful and then as intrigue pulls you further into her feed, you realise that she has something to say!
She has a strong voice and instead of using words or putting paint on a page, she emotes using her hair. Laetitia KY lives in Ivory Coast and started creating hair sculptures a little over a year ago. She already has over 48,000 followers. Her ideas, she says are very intuitive and she brings them to life with the help of needles, wire, wool, hair extensions. Of course she’s a big part of the setup. “In fact, I’m an integral part of the art itself,” she told ELLE.com in an interview. “I am a part of the concept. Maybe down the road I will do it on a certain person. But if I advocate love and self-esteem, self-confidence, [then I can] inspire other Black women to be proud of their entire heritage aesthetic.”
Her creations are sometimes whimsical and sometimes are hard hitting statements on state of affairs.
The piece that got to me was the one that she did in tandem with the #metoo campaign that was doing the rounds against sexual harassment. The art shows a man lifting up a woman’s skirt. In her caption, KY wrote, “NOTHING JUSTIFIES RAPE, SEXUAL ASSAULT OR HARASSMENT… Speak out because you don’t have to carry this burden alone, talk to help other women who are afraid, talk to start a revolution, talk to change things.” She also wrote that her direct messages were open for anyone who wanted to talk, leading a number of women to write and confide in her.
We think her art is a stellar way of communication and self-expression. Apart from the hair sculptures, KY is looking at exploring other forms of art and thinking of launching her own clothing line. What DOES she decide though? Only time will tell.
