Art expo in a hair salon? Yes, please.

Mod’s Hair is becoming part-gallery with the addition of artist Heather Straka’s powerful photographic series, Dissected Parlour. The images have caused a stir since their installation at the Aikmans Road salon in Merivale last Sunday. In the first work, named Teamwork (part II), five women pose awkwardly, as if in a fashion shoot, clutching Molotov cocktails and oxy-acetylene cutting torches, as if they’re about to create chaos. Inside the salon, more of Straka’s evocative work adorns the walls.

Unafraid of confronting racist and sexist stereotypes, Straka’s created a deep body of compelling and controversial work during her career in New Zealand and overseas. She’s always prescient and wittily observant, walking a tightrope across the cultural pulse of contentious matters, questioning tradition and challenging stereotypes.

Julianne Liebeck, director of Mod’s Hair in New Zealand and Australia, triggered this thought-provoking collaboration in its unusual setting. She had seen Straka's work at the Jonathan Smart Gallery, and was compelled to share it more widely. The collaboration unites Mod’s Hair, SCAPE public art and Pegasus Wines, whose varietals have been used in some of the images. “I wanted to do something edgy and fresh, something for our customers to savour,” says Liebeck. “It needed to fit with our clients; confident, unafraid and comfortable with the provocative.”

scapepublicart.org.nz