The Art of Barbering at Archive Gallery
The exhibition is part of London’s first ever CUT Festival, a 10-day event exploring the art of barbering through talks, exhibitions and performances

CUT Festival is an East London festival exploring art, culture and philanthropy inspired by barbershops. Taking place over 10 days at various East London locations including galleries and barbershops, the festival takes a broad look at the art of barbering, through a diverse programme of events.
Launching on the 24th February 2017, CUT is curated by London artists Jamie Lewis Hadley and Xavier de Sousa. It brings together international artists and activists who will exhibit and work alongside barbers, exploring themes of identity, gender and race through the mediums of barbershops. Contributors include Open Barbers, Katy Baird, Mark Bustos and Joshua Coombes.
Kicking off the festival is the group exhibition The Art Of Barbering at Haggerston’s Archive Gallery. The work on show includes razor-sharp photographs of favela youth by Hick Duarte, Cary Kwok’s ballpoint pen drawings, documentation from Oreet Ashery’s performance Hairoism, GIFs of Oakland’s barbers by Brandon Tauszik, striking images of Kolkata’s male cleansing rituals by Paula Harrowing and images from a live performance by CUT Festival curator Jamie Lewis Hadley.
“Barbering dates back centuries, the barbershop uniting communities as well as historically healing the sick and distinguishing identities.”
Jamie Lewis Hadley & Xavier de Sousa, CUT Festival curators
The Art of Barbering is at Archive Gallery. www.cutfestival.com takes place from February 24th – March 5th across various London locations and is supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and the Wellcome Trust.
Credits
Words Emma de Clercq
Images Oreet Ashery, Hick Duarte, Paula Harrowing, Cary Kwok, Brandon Tauszik
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