Hair has always been prominent in Patricia Piccinini's practice, both materially and conceptually. A signifier of mammalhood, its presence (or absence) can also represent either femininity or masculinity, depending on its relationship to the body.

The prelude to this presentation, a series of new ink and gouache drawings about hair, will only just begin to prepare you for the fantastically joyful kinetic installation at the heart of her exhibition.

Expanding on themes that have long occupied her work, Piccinini approaches hair as both a physical material and a powerful cultural symbol. Associated with identity, intimacy, age, gender, and belonging, it becomes a means through which the artist explores the ways bodies are perceived, transformed, and understood. The drawings introduce these ideas with sensitivity and precision, inviting viewers to consider the complex meanings that can be embedded in something as familiar and everyday as a strand of hair.

At the center of the exhibition, the kinetic installation translates these reflections into an immersive and dynamic experience. Movement, scale, and materiality combine to create a work that is at once playful and thought-provoking, characteristic of Piccinini’s ability to merge wonder with deeper questions about embodiment and human experience. Together, the drawings and installation reveal how seemingly ordinary elements can become gateways to broader reflections on identity, connection, and the boundaries between the natural and the imagined.