"The Longhairs": Irina Werning exhibits 20 years of photographs about the symbolism of long hair in ancestral communities.

The story between Irina Werning and the Longhairs began almost 20 years ago, when she traveled to the north of the country in a quest for adventure. Before that, when she was barely 21 and had just finished her degree in Economics, she felt the desire to see the world and discover something she was truly passionate about. "I felt like I was missing something I truly loved. That's why when I discovered photography by chance —because no one in my family was doing it, nor had I been given a camera as a girl like other photographers—I discovered a whole new world," she says.

In 2006, she arrived in the towns of northern Argentina , where she was captivated by the women who wore their hair very long. Unsure how to connect with them, she came up with the idea of ​​inventing contests , which she promoted through handwritten posters with die-cuts bearing her phone number, which she posted in markets, hospitals, schools, and high-traffic areas.

This is how the first gatherings were put together, where Irina portrayed the girls in a very loose manner, without realizing that this would be the beginning of a long project with a very deep and personal background.

"After ten years I started showing the photos and giving them shape . I interviewed older women from the communities and learned that long hair was an important part of the ancestral culture ," explains Werning, who relates that another factor that also caught her attention was that these Latin American communities experienced many waves of migration over the years that led to their knowledge mixing with Western heritage, until the idea of ​​long hair was adopted as an aspect of the general culture of the continent.

"Compared to other parts of the world, women here wear their hair longer. It's a special attribute for some and a symbol of femininity for others," she says.

This introduction to the codes and rituals of northern cultures led her to create an anthropological photographic record, reflecting the relationship between hair and the universe of ideas as something absolutely intertwined.

Why do they wear their hair long? What does it mean to cut it? Can others touch it? Is it a sign of femininity? At first glance, the images hanging in the halls of the Larivière Foundation seem to raise more questions than answers.

However, Werning has learned so much over the years with them that she has become the ideal interlocutor.

The first trips she made in 2006 resulted in a series of black and white analog photographs where the women and girls do not look at the camera, as Werning preferred to conceal their identities. Later, color appeared when, due to time constraints, she began working with digital cameras, in addition to a desire to explore other latitudes.

In each of the communities she visited , there was a common thread: hair as a symbol of life, knowledge, and ideas , a cable that communicates. There was also the sacred bond behind closed doors, passed down from generation to generation, where grandmothers and mothers care for their children's hair and pass on their knowledge and advice.

These encounters do not happen in social spaces, like hair salons, but are intimate and sacred .

Still, there’s something about the rallying around hair and the defense of culture that ’s reminiscent of the work of South African artist and social activist Zanele Muholi , who speaks about community pride and identity through hairstyles and how people find socio-political refuge and pass on their knowledge even in times of censorship, in everyday places like a hair salon, even if it’s precariously set up in a neighbor’s kitchen, where the power of what they communicate can go unnoticed.

In the case of Latin American indigenous communities, there's also the issue of recovering and feeling proud of the representation of what identifies their people . Werning understood this when he traveled to Ecuador and discovered a new generation of men with very long hair. Unlike their fathers, who had cut their hair thinking it would give them better opportunities in life, they reconnect with their roots as a sign of pride and decolonization.

In this series of photos, which belong to a period in which the photographer began creating images as planned stagings, where the subjects occupy a central and direct place, there are captivating photos, such as that of a couple in front of a heart made of plastic flowers, and other bizarre and powerful ones, such as that of three heads floating in a sea of ​​hair.

There questions arise about how the complicity between her and her subjects arises , since Werning cannot touch their hair .

Along the same lines, there is a large body of work featuring almost surreal scenes where he worked with women he met primarily in Buenos Aires. One appears with her head full of gift bows, another with her long hair hanging from a hanger, and three others are featured in a living room scene where three lush heads of hair hang from a ladder.

The venues are diverse, from the Teatro Colón to their own homes, the living room of Irina's friends, museums, and even a bar she visited after Vanessa Bell, the exhibition's curator, shared a photo on Instagram that caught her attention. There has long been a friendly connection between the two, something that is evident in "Las Pelilargas."

Finally, a large pair of scissors leads to a small room, where the story of a girl Werning photographed during the pandemic is presented. She made a promise: she would cut her long hair when the children were allowed to return to school. When that happened, she kept her word, and Werning witnessed that powerful event.

The single image of a head of hair that doesn't reach the floor speaks to an invitation to learn about the Un pelito más fácil initiative, which makes natural hair wigs for people undergoing cancer treatment . For those interested, the instructions are very simple: donate any amount of hair you want, bring it to the exhibition, and join a community that builds and helps.

Las pelilargas , by Irina Werning, can be visited at Fundación Larivière (Caboto 564), from Thursday to Sunday, from 12 to 19.