John Lucas and Claudia Rankine “Stamped” at Pioneer Works

In Stamped, filmmaker and photographer John Lucas and writer Claudia Rankine have collaboratively captured photographs of dyed blonde hair, as seen on the heads of strangers and acquaintances. These images—zoomed in and cropped—are framed as still images and also transposed onto real postage stamps. The stamp, a form of currency with inherent mobility, becomes a metaphor for questioning: What do we attribute to blondness? Where do we think it will take us? These questions are implicated in recorded conversations between Rankine and the individuals that she encounters, which play throughout the gallery space. Meanwhile, a video installation by Lucas depicts cascading strands of hair.