Men With Beards.

I must admit, unless a concept is exceptionally intriguing to me, I don't generally frequent exhibitions – one of the reasons why I'm glad that university is strongly encouraging me to turn this around. Once I heard that Collingwood's charitable Off The Kerb gallery was exhibiting art celebrating men with beards, that was certainly enough to intrigue me. I was unaware of the charitable aspect and reasons for the exhibition prior to entering the gallery and seeing the sign asking for non-perishable food items. I felt terrible that I hadn't done my research and brought anything to help. At least, there is still time.

Street view of the gallery. 

The concept of the exhibition was not restricted to any one artistic medium, and so there were several different kinds on display, including videos and sculpture, but in particular paintings and illustrations. I often feel that there are certain emotions an artist or gallery curator have intended a consumer to experience as they are 'experiencing' the works they have chosen/created, but in this particular case I really couldn't figure out what that was supposed to be. After viewing the exhibition, and doing research I discovered that the gallery is donating all proceeds from sold artwork to Melbourne Citymission's Frontyard Youth Services, which supports those under 25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness (Vadnjal, 2013). Was I supposed to be considering the homeless whilst perusing the many 'faces' of facial hair? Or was the exhibition supposed to stand on its own with the support for the homeless as merely incidental, in a sense? In hindsight, I don't think the exhibition was quite strong enough to do the latter, but it certainly got me thinking. Why beards as the face of homelessness?

One Beard To Rule Them All, Brenton See; Beard Eternal Springs, Mike Maka; Henry II, thirty60.

While Gen Y might simply associate beards with hipsters, the latest fashion and culture trend sweeping the world with Melbourne being one of the areas hit hardest, it's interesting to note that facial hair has made many appearances through the history of literature and art, even low forms of 'art' such as pornography. One of the works commenting on this was a series of pieces called 'Never Trust A Man With A Beard' by Nick Ilton (note: full sale proceeds of this piece will be donated to Melbourne Citymission). Underneath each illustration of bearded historical figures John Lennon, Charles Manson, Che Guevara, Vincent Van Gogh and of course Jesus, Ilton has written a commentary on their untrustworthy-ness appropriated into 'modern speech'. While Lennon and Van Gogh tended to make their own art rather than star in it, faces such as Guevara's and Jesus' are mainstays among the art and culture of today.

'A man with a beard can represent wisdom, individuality, virility, masculinity and strength' (Off The Kerb, 2013). Why is this? Research shows that an unwashed beard can spread infections (in Lee, 2013). But by the same token, can also protect against sun and skin cancer with the thickness of the hair acting as an SPF; beards, or rather moustaches can prevent asthma attacks (whereby the hairs that reach into the nose prevent allergens entering the nasal passages); beards can slow down the ageing process, because the hair keeps the skin where it is present moisturised and protected from wind damage, making it thicker; and beards can also help fight off colds by raising the temperature of the neck and chin killing a potential virus (Lee). While genetically, women grow hair in less places than men, generally, this didn't stop ancient Egyptian queens from trying to get in on the action, often sporting false strap on beards, as commented on in Kat Young's 'Maîtresse-en-Titre'.

Maîtresse-en-Titre, Kat Young. 

Off The Kerb speaks of how recently the beard has made a comeback, not seen since the free love movement of the sixties and seventies. While this may be true of real life, this is not being reflected in the media. Turning on almost any current television show, or opening almost any current magazine with representations of males, there is next to no bodily or facial hair to be seen [this article titled 'Men's grooming: body hair removal' by Duncan Copeland (2012) discusses this phenomenon in connection with the idea that a “hairless physique shows off more muscle definition”, so perhaps the removal of hair from society is purely incidental, indeed]. A quick internet search of 'body hair' comes up almost exclusively with results about its unsightly-ness, and how to remove it; when refining this result just to men, countless articles are produced on whether women prefer “hairy men or hairless men” (extremely hetero-normative, for a start). Why is there such a disconnect between what the men and women of reality are wearing compared with the men and women of the screen and print? It is common knowledge that representations often take a long time to catch up with the trends of the general public, but I can't help but worry that this an issue similar to that of vagina-shaming, whereby something that is occurring naturally in/on/within our bodies is ultimately being slowly stigmatised by the media for reasons either benign or unknown.

Me responding to Dankcity's 'Untitled'. 

  

Perhaps it will all ultimately come full circle thanks to pieces such as Dankcity's 'Untitled' short film, depicting two men enjoying each other and their beards. One scene has the two playing in the shower, clothed, soaping up each other's beards. The film is quite sexual, and in all honesty, not for the faint of heart. But perhaps this is where it starts. Perhaps beards (and by extension, body hair) have to be fetishised to complete the cycle of stigmatisation and re-entrance into society. In which case, I'm glad I was there to witness the beginning of the comeback.

REFERENCE LIST:

Copeland, D 2013 'Mens grooming: body hair removal', Fashion Beans, 2 August, retrieved 14 April 2013 < http://www.fashionbeans.com/2012/mens-grooming-body-hair-removal/ >

Lee, C 2013 'From warding off pollen to slowing the ageing process: beards are good for you', The Daily Mail, 19 February, retrieved 14 April 2013 < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2280717/Beards-good-From-warding-pollen-slowing-ageing-process.html >

Off The Kerb, 2013, 'Exhibitions', retrieved 14 April 2013 < http://www.offthekerb.com.au/exhibitions.htm >

Vadnjal, L 2013 'All about men with beards', Broadsheet, retrieved 14 April 2013 < http://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/weekend/article/all-about-men-beards >