The Bowhead Project emerged through an afternoon visit to Jo-ann Fabrics, where we found the discounted bulk bags of multi-colored gift bows intensely attractive. Our initial urge had been to make an entire body suit covered in glinting ribbons. But practical limitations led us to cover the head alone by pinning hundreds of bows to a mugger’s mask. Initially we created one bowhead mask, which we began wearing in various public spaces around the University of Montana campus. Soon, it became easy to imagine a whole tribe of bowheads: sexy yet sexless creatures with the “readable” face completely obstructed. The bowhead is both an object of fixation – absorbing the gazes of all surrounding eyes – and, conversely, a radiating force emitting the colorful and agressive light of bows en masse.
[slidepress gallery=’the-bowhead-project’]
