The Bob Holder
2012 -
The Bob Holder, an American Invention is a body of work inspired by the enhancements to the hairpin made by my great-grandfather Harry Natkiel. Natkiel spent his life working out of his small family apartment in Washington Heights, New York, inventing and adjusting small industrial objects, then selling the patents to manufacturers. From 1912 to 1964 he adapted and patented new versions of the "bob holder," (now commonly known as the bobby pin) to make the hairpin more secure and cause less damage to hair.
My decision to enlarge the modern day bobby pin came from noticing discarded hair pins on the ground in every country I have been to including Mexico, Belize, France, Dubai, Australia, India, Egypt, Lebanon, Ireland and in the USA. By enlarging the hairpins and placing them in public spaces, I hope to draw attention to small everyday objects such as bobby pins that fall to the ground unnoticed and immediately lose all value. Having a family connection to these small objects gives me a feeling of empathy to the object itself, and to the people who design, manufacture, ship, sell, and wear them. I am hoping to give people an unexpected moment to consider and notice the unnoticed.
