How does one hold things and memories together? Do you replicate them? Do you entrust them to others? Pin Calacal reflects on ways of preserving relationships that are dear to her as a gesture of care. In this solo presentation, she returns to the idea of archiving oneself not merely to document, but to preserve essence and meaning as the body starts to deteriorate on its own over time. 

The imagery of human hair is central in her ongoing series of work. Poignant and recurring features in her paintings, drawings, and objects. The same imagery is present in her experimentation with monotype prints, produced by cutting her hair and pressing their strands onto paper, leaving delicate and organic impressions in a one-of-a-kind print. Participatory and performance-based, Calacal invites the viewers to partake from one of the two mirrored prints. Her unconventional use of hair as object for printmaking evokes a certain desire to honor her relationships with other people and foster new ones. 

Calacal embraces the exhaustive condition of living, while consciously attempting to veer away from romanticizing it. She acknowledges that it is through exhaustion that she discovers facets of herself. She depicts a state of exhaustion in her drawings of mound of clothes and cluster of hair overtaking a bed—a visual metaphor for the unending clutter and pending chores that only pile up in the course of time. All seemingly mundane tasks demand attention. Despite the overwhelming feeling of drowning in the relentless cycle of daily tasks, heads remain above the surface, thriving and afloat. 

Calacal intricately weaves and paints bundles of hair, which she refers to as portraits. She gathers this iterative body of work, both old and new portraits into the exhibition, representing her ever-changing relationship with her own body. Some of the hairs in her portraits are given to her, while others are shed animal furs she’s gathered over time. The shedding of hair signals the deterioration of the body marked by illness or declining health. Her more recent paintings of hair clips, pins, and ties are items symbolic of the very act of binding things all together and keeping to her core. This exhibition is a rekindling of her own sense of self, emerging from both disillusionment and a discernment of hope. Calacal opts for the latter. (James Tana)