The themes of change and transformation run like a golden thread through our life. Some we welcome with open arms, while others we begrudgingly accept with a heavy heart. For my project TANGIBLE TRUTHS women who undergo chemotherapy leave their hair to me to transform it into a unique and personal piece of art. The title addresses the diverse experiences which are collected during this time. Each woman is touched differently by the sickness and its treatment. Not only the person concerned but also the people around them pass through a transformation in this period. Her partner, her family and friends experience her sickness in a personal manner as well. The artefacts that I create of the hair, mark this transformation and disclose a new access for the people involved to the commonly overwhelming situation. The change becomes visible, not only as the lost hair but further as its transformation into something valuable. Something abstract and difficult to comprehend becomes discernible, becomes tangible. The loss creates something new and the helplessness is juxtaposed against a tangible artefact. This object can be the introduction to an exchange of difficult feelings that are otherwise hard to communicate.
You can read up on the background of the project and my experience with Mary Beth, the first patient and now friend, I worked with here.
All of the pieces are carefully handmade in a labour intensive process that can take days or even weeks until they transform into beautiful, tactile objects inviting you to engage with them and learn their individual stories. Additional to creating an artifact for the patient it is also possible to braid wristbands or necklaces for family members and close friends. They can function as a reminder of our interconnectedness during this phase and metaphorically bind us together. Please use the inquiry form to contact me for further information and commissions.
I also welcome other inquiries, comments or requests via youandme@sybille.me
Support Tangible Truths with your love, dollars or skills!
A project like this lives and thrives on the generosity of a community. I realized all of these pieces with the financial and moral support of friends and family. Are you feeling the desire to be a part of this project and support me & the brave ladies I work for? Do you have a service or product to trade? Or want to make a micro- donation? Be my guest and contact me via youandme@sybille.me or click this gorgeous button below to donate some financial love. Make it 5€ or 500€, whatever is in your budget.
(Für die deutsche Version bitte hier klicken!)
“What Sybille created touched me really deeply. The free flow design of the project meant that my hair had not been transformed simply into a piece of art that was separate from me, the flow of the necklace she created somehow seemed to still hold pieces of me within it. The waves of the hair ... still looked so alive and so full of life. ... Her work touched not only me, but also those close to me here in Berlin who have seen it or seen the pictures. One person close to me even teared up because the necklace still looked like my hair and was a reminder of what it had been. ... I was impressed by what she had produced and very proud to have been a part of her project. ... I love the idea of helping create beauty out of what for many of us is a ugly process: chemotherapy. ”