My work is concerned with an abiding fascination for the uncanny and the surreal in everyday objects, as well as an on-going exploration of relationship between hair and wigs and their relationship to gender and identity. My recent bodies of work Wigs and Furl were informed by a previous documentary study into detritus left lying around in a red-light district in Manchester. I became interested in fallen hair pieces (artificial extensions, weaves, etc) that I regularly found in the street. These strange relics were graphic metaphors for what went on in the area, either as evidence of broken femininity, quite literally 'fallen woman', or as symbols of the underlying violence that the women risked working there. Furl is an on-going project, still utilising hair in the form of wigs, but as a way of abstracting from the specifics of the sex industry in order to explore the construction female sexual identity in broader terms. My work for Furl investigates the wig as an object, separated from the body, allowing an exploration into what the interior of the wig might reveal. Using sculptural techniques such as cutting, folding, assemblage and layering I can literally open up the surfaces of the wig and create playful relationships between interior and exterior. These fragile paper experiments hint at the flimsy surfaces that make up the masquerade of femininity.
Sarah Eyre
sarahjeyre@yahoo.co.uk, www.saraheyre.co.uk, sarahjeyre.wordpress.com
Education
2006 University of Huddersfield, PGCE Teaching in Further Education
2001 University of Salford, MA Documentary Film Production
1992 Nottingham Trent University, BA (Hons) Photography
Exhibitions & Curatational Projects
July 2015 Tracing Paper, Paper Gallery, Manchester
March 2015 Exposures - Format International Photography Festival, Derby
2014 Diorama, Blackpool's Hidden Theatres Blackpool and the Fylde College
2014 The Fielden Project, site specific exhibition, Todmorden, West Yorkshire
2013 My Head is an Animal, South Square Gallery, Bradford
2013 SEE: Undressing Identity, The Gallery, Blackpool & the Fylde Gallery
2013 Spreads – artist’s book, fringe exhibition, Renconntres d’Arles photography festival
2013 Agoraphobia: Spaces Within, Blackpool & the Fylde College
2013 ‘A family of’ fly poster exhibition, around Liverpool, part of Look 13
2012 Lucky Jotter (group show), FY1 Creative, Blackpool
2011 Twice Removed, Madlab, Manchester – with ‘A Family Of’
2011 A Family Of Beer mat as art project – distributed at arts spaces & festivals
2009 Road, Manchester Central Library – 3 photographers working on the theme of site.
2008 Subplotting, Mid Penine Arts, Burnley
2007 Bitmapping, Cornerhouse Project Space
2006 40 Shades of Green, Organic House, Hebden Bridge, solo show
2005 Light of a Kind, Ashton Art Gallery
2003 Paths of Desire, Sand bar, Manchester
1996 Diverse Cities, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
1995 Folly, Art in the bar, Manchester Gallery
1995 Signals: Women’s Photography, Open Eye, Liverpool
Forthcoming Projects
Film Screenings
2012 Fog, University of Angers Nouvelle et Cinéma Conference
2010 Witness Protection, Latitude Festival
2008 Streets, New Islington Festival & BBC Big Screen
Publications & Papers
2014 Of the Afternoon Magazine (portfolio of images & interview)
2013 Hunger Magazine (online HungerTV) (images and interview)
2013 Agoraphobia: Spaces Within exhibition catalogue
2012 Source Photographic Review, Issue 70 (images and interview)
2012 The Disappearing Image, Nouvelle et Cinéma conference, University of Angers, France
2011 Twice Removed poster / booklet (Cornerhouse Micro Commission)
Current Employment
2008 Part- time Lecturer BA (Hons) Photography, Blackpool & the Fylde College
2014 Associate Lecturer, BA (Hons) Photography, Manchester School of Art
