The head has been a source of representation and intellectual curiosity throughout history and across cultures. How do humans understand, picture, and study the many facets that make up the head? Be it the mind, the physical head itself, or ornamentation, how has the head been represented, perceived, and understood?
In ancient Greece and Rome, coins covered the eyes in death to pay for passage to the underworld, while death masks have often been created for the famous. In many indigenous cultures, ceremonial masks are used to communicate with the spirit world; these traditions have enduring power in contemporary culture. Many cultures view the eyes as the window to the soul or as being able to ward off evil spirits. The mouth consumes, speaks, desires, and communicates. The ear listens and is seen, often pierced for decoration, adding more semiotics to the head. The neck is one of the most intimate places to kiss, yet when we are angry, we can ‘string them up by their necks,’ guillotine them or have them put on a pike to ward off criminals and evil forces. How do contemporary artists and writers adapt these ancient and far-reaching traditions?
What do the portrait and headshot say about the person in the photo or the photographer? How have hairstyles represented fashion, convention, and rebellion? What are the dangers, consequences, and underlying insecurities that attend facial recognition software? Facebook and facial recognition software have complicated the concept of the head, and the COVID-19 Pandemic has seen much of our personal and professional lives reduced to talking heads on the computer screen. In this issue of Drain the essays, thought experiments, reflections on artistic practices, and creative works reflect on the omnipresence of the head, seen everywhere but seldom acknowledged as one of the most dominant images in visual culture.
IN THIS ISSUE
Feature Writing
Love Dies in the Head – Brent Kollock
Essays
The Symbol of the Head Demarcates Cultural Values and Concepts in Material Objects and Architectural Structures – Greg Minissale
The Headdress in Popular Culture, Haute Couture, and the Complications of Kent Monkman’s Another Feather in her Bonnet – Nicole Perry
Branding Realpolitik: a Discussion of Vanguard Politics and Frank Schätzing’s Non-Fiction Eco-Thriller Was, wenn wir einfach die Welt retten? – Angela Kölling
Kristevan Head Cases: Bettina Flitner’s Europäerinnen and Annie Leibovitz’s Women – Susan Ingram
‘The Golden Age of the Cheekbone’: Beauty, Race, and Bones in Golden-age Hollywood – Tracy Adams
Creative Writing
T[x]me – Cedric Tai
Interviews
The Head – A Conversation with Artist-Academic Selina Tusitala Marsh – Coline Souilhol
Heads from Hands – A Conversation with Aaron Obbeek – Greg Minissale
The Ulumate Project – An Interview with Daren Kamali – Nicole Perry
Art Projects
All Shook Up – Bean Gilsdorf
Mask – Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs
Our Heads Unmade and Remade – Jess Perlitz
Parts, Not Whole – Erik Geschke
This issue was edited by Nicole Perry