Rosemary Meza-DesPlas is among the godmothers of her craft. Since the early 2000s, the Garland, Texas native has set the standard for how to integrate human specimens in art. All she’s using is hair.
Painstaking research into the cultural history of hair is niche but not new. It was the topic recently of art historian Elizabeth L. Block’s book Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing (2024, MIT Press).
The book’s premise piqued Meza-DesPlas’s interest. “It’s this idea of being seen, being invisible when you’re in the home, but when going in public, you’re visible,” she said. Block shows how “it was so labor intensive to get the hair done and to get the right hairstyle. Preparing to be seen is just kind of an interesting idea to me.”…