Melanie Bilenker
The jewelry of my adolescent and teen years involved beads, charms, crystals and tokens. Most treasured were those swapped with friends: half a heart charm, a knotted friendship bracelet, beads on a safety pin worn on my shoelace.
Another adolescent thread was the freedom of self-control provided by hair clippers. Physical change brought solace in the years when I felt most out of control. At times I would bleach my short hair from dark brown to rusty orange-blonde and then buzz it off again. As a saver of things, I kept some half-bleached teenage locks.
For Homeroom, in the manner of tokens traded by Victorian era friends and lovers, I plaited my teen hair, set it beneath a heart-shaped glass and dangled it from a gold pin.
Brunette to Blonde Friendship Pin
2021
Artist’s half-bleached teenage hair on paper, gold, silver, mineral glass
