Woman's hair ornament c. 1970s

This Woman’s Hair Ornament was made by a Jat artist. I love that the medium isn’t paint or clay but the braiding, beading, and assemblage of the parts. The Jat artist used fiber as a way to think about color and shape, so maybe we can too. Imagine the making of this piece, the hours spent on its assembly, the braiding of the red, yellow, and black cords. The composition reminds me of a plumb bob, that tool used to establish a true vertical. But, with its felted bobble, this is not a tool but a piece of adornment, meant to swing and sway from the head. That dark blue felted ball in the center there adds a certain weight to the whole composition, a kind of seriousness. This playful item reminds me of the sculptures of the artist Judith Scott, with their colourful wrapped forms, obscuring the found objects underneath. Both artists share an investment in accumulation and layering, embracing complexity over simplicity. Like them, maybe we can all loosen our expectations of what art should be.