Shear Pleasure: A Photography Series Documenting Queer People's Hair 
Hello! I'm Alina Balseiro (they/them) and I am a lens-based artist in the Boston area. Beginning in 2021, I started photographing Queer people in Generation-Z to highlight their relationship with their hair. Along with continued research and accountability, photographing new and existing collaborators has been an ongoing process. 

While Queer people are celebrated for using hair as a form of self expression, there are still stigmas surrounding Black people's hair that are perpetrated in and outside of the LGBTQIA+ community. Many hairstyles and other forms of self expression have been appropriated by Queer people rather than credited to Black history. This work aims to illuminate the intricacies of each community's intersection of identity & self expression.

Process
Maintaining the comfort of each collaborator, we will meet to talk through questions that get to know your relationship with your hair and how your Queerness, and other identities, connect to it. Based on our conversation, I will visualize your experiences through photographs to be part of the series, Shear Pleasure. 

As a way to respect and uplift BIPOC identities, this project prioritizes the inclusion of racially and ethnically marginalized identities who are not traditionally appreciated in fine art. Additionally, you do not need to have hair to participate.

Artist statement & more about the work:
The fluidity of expression, experimentation, growth, & reinvention contribute to our ever-changing reflection of identity. Many individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community use their hair as a way to express themselves & subvert the media’s norms. The appeal of instant reinvention satisfies cravings for change, identity affirmation, & confidence. I honor how hair intimately intersects with family, culture, & politics in addition to their LGBTQIA+ identities. In each image we make together, sitters take agency of their Queer self expression.

Do-it-yourself haircuts done in the privacy of our homes emphasize the importance of community support & alternative styles. Through conversation, we share experiences & develop trust with each other to produce images that are authentic to their experiences. With subtle connections to each other through charged gestures & directive gaze, each person is bonded with each other. Hair styles, accessories, length, and color act as a signal to other Queer people of our generation to publicly gain a sense of unspoken community.

See more of this series and more of my work at www.alina.photo 
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Do you identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ Community?
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Are you interested in being photographed for a photography series that highlights Queer people's relationship with their hair?
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Do you describe yourself / identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and Person of Color)? *
This series focuses on Queer people in Generation-Z (born 1997-2012). What year were you born?  *
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