Let it grow and show it!

Museum Folkwang Essen Grow it! Show it!

The exhibition highlights hairstyles in society, everyday life, or the fashion industry.

Through contemporary photographs, posters, videos, or assembled magazines, endless design possibilities are presented.

The splendor of hair is styled, shaved, waxed, gelled as a fashion accessory or a social statement.

From photographers like Helmut Newton, who does not just stage hairstyles as a fashion accessory but as a central design element, to queer feminist and post-colonial discourses. Furthermore, trends are defined and presented.

Queer non-conforming designs with elaborate wigs, extravagant hairstyles, and artistic stylings also represent a form of resistance against conventional beauty ideals.

Head and body hair are closely linked to cultural stereotypes of masculinity and femininity.

Hair is a visible characteristic of family history, but the predisposition to hair loss is also inherited.

Hair as art objects in the museum - exciting, entertaining and not just hair in the soup or part of the beauty industry. The exhibition encourages queer, feminist, and indeed political discussions.

So not in the motto of Heinz Ehrhardt in the 70s: “I wear my hair open today, well we don't want to talk about extravagant things.'