Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Tiffany Duong

Fuck-Ass Bob

The cyclical nature of generational trauma, how trauma is held in hair, and the permanent damage of cutting a doll's hair.

“Hair holds onto trauma. When you cut it all off, you’re letting things go. Growing up, I never cut my own hair as a sort of catharsis. Instead, I'd take it out on Barbie. Micro-bang. Uneven layers. The whole lot. Barb's hair, however, doesn't grow back. It's permanent damage. My mom never allowed me to cut Barbie's hair as a kid, so I’d do it in secret: cut off their hair, quickly tuck the evidence and the doll away. But one day, I came home and saw one of my dolls had a bob that it didn’t have before. And it was a Fuck. Ass. Bob. I confronted my mom about it and she fessed up. I felt betrayed by her hypocrisy.The day after, she sat me down and gave me my own fuck-ass bob. Guess the Barb was practice.”