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Representation Through Hair :
The Real Me
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Sidney Law
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Integrative Seminar 1 : Fake
Professor Chakkappan
September 8th 2014
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In Howells’ essay he demonstrates how art is affected by the idealization of an individuals surroundings. But idealization is an incredibly subjective practice. For the project in the other
class we had to come up with two photos, one that we found did not represent us, and one we
took that did. I chose to take the project in a direction, that dealt with self idealization. The goal
of the diptych is to figure out what represents us as individuals, a concept that Howells had no
knowledge of and therefore his writing is prevented from relating directly to anything of my
generation. Our historical context prevent it.
The photo I found that I feel does not represent me is in color. It is taken in a brightly lit
room. It depicts me with straight flat ironed dark brown hair swept over to one side. I am smiling
in the photo and my head and shoulders dominate the photo. This photo does not represent me
because my appearance is completely altered from its natural state. Even though I am not wearing makeup I have changed my identity drastically through flat ironing my hair. This may seem
like a small thing to someone who has never had anything other that straight hair, or who has not
experienced the identity crisis of a mixed race women. It is however not at all an insignificant
matter.
The staged photo that I believe does represent me is also in color. It is taken in a slightly
dark room. In the photo I am smiling at the camera with my head tilted slightly. My very curly
hair is swept to the side where they bounce up right above my shoulders and are held gently in
place by my hand. My head and shoulders dominate the photo. This photo represents me for multiple reasons. On a one dimensional level it is because I am in my most natural of states. I had
done nothing but shower that morning, no makeup, no hair fixing, nothing. If I dig deeper though
this photo represents me because it depicts my acceptance of my own personal appearance. Ac-
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cepting my curls was symbolic to unabashedly embracing my race and the way that I was created, and therefore accepting my true identity. This photo is a representation of all of that.
In Howells’ story he demonstrates how art is affected by the idealization of an individuals
surroundings. The real grasshopper is a metaphor for all natural things. The idea in this essay of
what is natural is not necessarily limited to nature, but stretches to the state of the civilization he
was living in. The fake grasshopper is a metaphor for the idealized society that literature and art
depicted back then. The story paints a very clear picture of what Howells thought art was in his
day. The artificial grasshopper is idealized in the same way that most art and literature was. Creating the perfect grasshopper was more important to the critic than creating the real grasshopper
who was imperfect and realistic. The young artist that is trying to describe the real grasshopper
represents what Howells would like art to be, while the critic who is peddling the fake grasshopper represents what he perceives art currently was at the time.
There are a few things that you can infer from Howells writing about his historical context. He is clearly from a time when there was a great infuses and respect for the arts and literary
works of the great classics that had come before. It can also be inferred that he lived in a very
absolutist society. This essay implies that he feels that society is clinging to the wrong absolutist
attitude, not that there is anything wrong with the absolutist concept as a whole. This suggests
that Howells had no concept of physiological individuality.
My historical context on the other hand is very different than his. I live in a society that
values human individualism extremely highly. I also have grown up in a time where art has
evolved to emphasize the pure and natural in art. This gives me the insight that I believe that
Howells’ is missing in his theory. See in the context of my life and my generation Burke’s assur-
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ance that “The true standard of art is in every mans power.”1, speaks to me about the ability of
anyone to be an artist given their unique and differing perspectives. That was not the same for
Howells’, he interpreted that to mean that it was within every man to create the same art. My reaction to Howells’ writing varies drastically from what I believe he intended it to be. My historical context prevents me totally from reacting as he intended to this reading, just as I suspect his
historical context prevented him to react to the idea of individualism in the arts. After all his essay was all about the unity of taste, and I live in a time where that is a concept that would be
wildly rejected if introduced. Howells’ goal was to convert young artist to his unity of taste not
simply abolish the current standard.
The essay connects to my photos in a couple of ways. First, my choice includes a theme
of accepting myself in my natural state (with curly hair). This idea coincides with Howells view
from Keats “Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty”2. Second, the content of my photos have a lot to do
with personal identity and the struggle to find and accept it in myself. In this way the essay directly contradicts the project I am doing in the other class. My project in the other class can not
agree or coincide with the ideas of Howells, if for no other reason than historical context.
1
W.D.Howells(The Grasshopper : The Simple, The Natural, The Honest in Art)[page 71]
2
W.D.Howells/Keats(The Grasshopper : The Simple, The Natural, The Honest in Art) [page72]