Silver: A State of Mind -- Photographic Exhibit Review
Silver: A State of
Mind
A
photographic exhibit by Vicki Topaz.
This is a beautiful series of sixty-six portraits in black
and white of women who have embraced the graying of their hair. Some of them are actually multiple images, so
the correct figure is somewhat higher than sixty-six, but there are two
galleries on the website each containing a series of thirty-three images. The Buck
Institute for Research on Aging in
Novato, California, is hosting the inaugural exhibition of a small sample of
these images. The photo exhibit celebrates
the opening of the Institute’s new Regenerative Medicine Research
Center. The Buck Institute's exhibit
only shows twelve of the sixty-six images from the website. You have to make an appointment to see it,
and that can only be done on a Thursday morning. Not the most accessible venue. I have not seen the exhibit at the Buck
Institute. I viewed the two galleries on
the website indicated above. However, I
would very much like to see prints of these images in an accessible public
venue, preferably in San Francisco, or perhaps in a high quality book. However, the website is a perfectly adequate
display, especially if you have large screen available.
The exhibit raises a number of issues, but I think its
overarching thrust is aesthetic: it points out very forcefully and effectively that silver haired
women can be both beautiful and interesting.
Topaz pointedly uses the word 'silver' to denote the color of aging
hair, which is an important linguistic modification that carries much more
positive connotations than 'gray'.
'Silver' suggests something desirable, valuable, and beautiful. 'Gray' suggests bland, dull, indistinct, and
old. The ideal of feminine beauty in
American culture is young and thin and all about appearance rather than the
inner self. Topaz is pushing hard against
that norm by showing us physically beautiful women with unabashedly gray
hair. The images dissent from a
prevailing preoccupation with a woman's hair at the expense of the inner
woman. Women in American culture are
judged so much on their external appearance rather than on their internal
qualities, and this is particularly true with respect to sexual attractiveness: a judgment becomes increasingly harsh with age. These images show women with undeniable
physical beauty as well as emotional depth and personal complexity that should
not be obscured by the color of their hair -- gray.
In 2005, the hair color industry was worth about $11 billion
dollars worldwide, with about $9 billion coming from home-use hair color and
another $2 billion or so in salons.
L'Oreal, the industry leader, claims that 60 percent of American women
color their hair. (Linda Dyett, New York Times, April 24, 2005)
Men are also increasing their use of hair color
products.
"While the number of men over 18 who color
their hair doubled from 1999 to 2010, from 3 percent to 6 percent, among men
age 50 to 64 the rate has grown even more, from 3 percent to 10 percent,
according to Multi-sponsor Surveys, a research firm." (New
York Times, January 12, 2011)
The answer to why people color their hair is probably
similar to the reasons they use cosmetics in general. Cosmetics attempt to improve upon the natural
condition of our bodies, particularly in terms of appearance and odor. The appearance and odor of one's body are
closely related to one's social acceptability, sexual attractiveness, and one's
inner sense of self-acceptance, self esteem.
The graying of hair as we age creates an involuntary change in these
narcissistic fundamentals, which may or may not be welcome. It is the resultant anxieties from these
changes that are the lifeblood of the cosmetics industry. The cosmetics industry was worth $333.6
billion in 2008 with $52.1 billion of that coming from the US.1 People
are willing to pay a lot of money for self acceptance, social acceptability,
and sexual attractiveness evinced through their bodies.
There is a heading on the exhibit website that
leads to quotations from the female subjects on their feelings about aging and
a whole range of issues related to their choice of letting their hair grow gray. They reflect the conflicted nature of the
issue and its complexity in each individual.
Is it more "authentic"
to simply allow one's natural hair color to be revealed and let the chips fall
where they may in terms of perception in the eyes of others, or is it more
"authentic" to create the physical appearance one wishes to present
to the world? Many women feel external pressure
to color their hair from others who desire to perceive them in a particular
way. There is an economic aspect to it
as well. Some employers are perceived to
desire younger workers, and therefore appearing to be older is thought to be a
disadvantage in competing for some jobs.
In today's world with the ready availability of hair
coloring products and services, the presence of absence of gray hair is a personal
choice, reflecting numerous inner and outer realities in a person's
life. I don't think Topaz is
suggesting that women stop coloring their hair and simply let the silver emerge. She is not advocating the abolition of our
current cultural ideals. But she is
creating an alternative aesthetic by presenting silver hair as a viable
possibility for attractive femininity in later years. She is expanding our ideal of feminine beauty
to include the later years of a woman's life.
It is a positive, constructive intent, beautifully executed.
In nearly every image the hair is partly out of focus. Usually this blurring of the hair takes place
on the side of the face further from the viewer, or toward the rear, but
sometimes the lower portion of the hair was blurred and the top left in
focus. It varied a little bit in each
image, but it was a very salient characteristic of the series. I couldn't decide if this was done with a
lens filter, or with the choice of f-stop, or if it was a digital
artifact. But it is clear that Topaz's
intent is to deemphasize the viewers' inclination to focus on the women's hair. Rather, she would have us focus on the inner
selves of the women, and this is best seen through their eyes, which are always
very expressive and absolutely sharp. It
is a message that asks the viewer to reconstruct his or her conception of
beauty and attractiveness as it pertains to the aging woman. The exhibit should be of interest to any
woman over thirty-five. I would hope
that it finds its way into a more accessible, concrete public venue. It deals with issues that affect everyone
sooner or later, and it puts them forward thoughtfully and with great
sensitivity and compassion.
1. Market Share
Reporter, Vol. 1 (2012) Edited by Robert
S. Lazich. Detroit, New York, et.
al: Gale Cengage Learning. p. 326