Untitled (chain), 2020, Kanekalon hair, Polyethylene foam, pine wood, hairspray, Overall dimensions vary with installation, Unique
Materiality is central to Stevenson’s practice to an almost obsessive degree. Untitled Chain drapes down from the ceiling, resting elegantly on the floor, like an eccentric piece of hardware. Made with synthetic Kanekalon hair, her sculpture has a fetishistic quality that addresses themes of camp and queer culture. Stevenson’s investigation of camp and use of synthetic hair evokes Madison Moore’s book, Fabulous: the Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric, in which Victoria Sin speaks to the significance of wigs in drag performance. Sin narrates, “My wig is huge. It is in your way. Its presence makes you step aside. My wig is enormous, the bigger the hair the larger the space I occupy. It was always my space, but now you are aware that you are in it, and you move aside. My wig is huge. It helps me take up space so that you cannot see me. You cannot dismiss me.” The repeated interlocking chains at a larger than life, even absurd, scale, mimic Sin’s repetitive assertions. The interlocking pieces are suggestive of community; a linking support system that creates space to be oneself, whatever form that may take, and stand defiantly in resistance to heteronormative expectations. Stevenson’s practice creates space for queer femme bodies to thrive.
Written by Lauren Guilford