Shin Min,
Usual Suspects, 2025, Pencil on paper, 130x1500cm (crop) ©P21P21
presents Shin Min’s solo exhibition 《Ew! Hair in My Food!》 on view through May
17.
Shin Min
translates her anger over the injustice and oppression she has faced as a
woman, an art worker, and a worker into tangible figures. In this exhibition,
she will unveil new works from her ‘Usual Suspects’ series, which explores the
theme of hair.
Paper
has always been her primary medium, layered and painted over in repetitive
motions to mirror the surveillance and controlled identities imposed on
workers. The exaggerated postures and furious expressions of her paper
sculptures critique societal inequities that oppress women and marginalized
groups.
Shin Min,
Usual Suspects - Chanmi, 2025, Paper casting with pencil,
115x85x120cm ©P21This
project begins with the question, “Why do we find hair disgusting?” It focuses
on workers’ hair, systematically policed in the name of hygiene. Strands of
hair in food or products provoke visceral disgust, forcing service workers to
maintain immaculate appearances. Female laborers, in particular, are mandated
to wear hairnets and subjected to strict grooming rules.
The artist
views the hairnet—worn to keep hair neatly in place—as a symbol of the
capitalist system's control over female workers. Through this, she seeks to
expose the notion of “femininity” imposed on women in the workforce and the low
social status of those who are expected to conform to it.
Additionally,
Shin Min’s work draws from her personal experiences to depict the reality in
which she is neither fully respected as a woman nor as a worker. At the same
time, she explores the performative nature of the service labor she carries
out, examining the roles and identities she is compelled to embody.
