Inez Garcia glass artist

My self-portrait series is titled, "Don't Touch My Hair." This particular series draws from my personal experience as a child and adult of strangers trying to touch my hair. I have curly hair that attracts unwanted touching, an invasion of personal boundaries. Curiosity sparks interest and then the action is justified on a subconscious level through racism. This action echoes the lack of personal boundaries/ body ownership of African American slavery. Today, these same beliefs have evolved into microaggressions such as hair touching. I have replaced the hair with various materials that convey the alluring exoticism of curly hair. Similar to a tropical bird, women from ethnicities outside of the mainstream culture carry an allure and an air of exoticism. We tend to be encapsulated and desired in much of the same way as a tropical bird. I use text to create a self-aware environment for the viewer that calls to attention her/his role as a voyeur. My projects focus specifically on the tension between a subject of desire and a separation of objectivity.