Starting in 2018, Iranian artist Hamraz Darugar began an artistic research by collecting hair from hairdressers and volunteer donors. This exploration gave birth to the installation “Random-ID”, a work rooted in the concept of identity, which uses hair as a medium as it carries the individual “DNA” of each human being. Each carefully selected strand of hair reveals unique and individual characteristics that embody each individual's singularity, diversity and, above all, time and life itself. The time spent in each strand of hair preserves the memory of a life lived in a now inert body.
Hamraz Darugar has always been fascinated by hair because, although it is part of the human body, it has no life of its own and can be shaped or colored without causing pain, being insensitive. In many cultures, the symbolic meaning of hair varies greatly: some religions require covering it as an act of devotion or censorship, while in other traditions, such as Japanese, it represents beauty and spirituality. For example, Japanese Buddhist monks shave their hair completely as a symbol of renunciation of the material world.Similarly, in some tribes of West and Central Africa, hair is seen as a powerful amulet, capable of protecting against negative influences and the evil eye.
In Hamraz Darugar's work the body itself becomes the protagonist, exploiting the natural form of organic matter without altering it. The result is a surprising code of decisive and delicate pictorial signs, which open the doors to a new and fascinating language.
