Now the Head Assistant, Sailor started working at La Boutique at the age of 15, working on the weekends whilst in high-school. During this time she participated in the Worlds Greatest Shave, shaving her head by a member of our team to raise money for the Leukemia Foundation and donated her hair to become a wig for Children suffering with cancer. Her bravery and integrity is awe-inspiring. At La Boutique we now fully versed in the procedure for donating hair to people in need and do so whenever possible.
As an artist, Sailor was heavily inspired working in the salon among all these established hair artists. The textures, color and shapes of hair became the foundations for her final body of work which she received an award of excellence. After graduating, Sailor was accepted into a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the National Arts School and continues to work at La Boutique part-time. Her dedication, positive attitude and creative flare makes her a unique and integral member of the La Boutique Team.
After seeing a picture of her mother and long time La Boutique client, Laura Kennard, with a shaved head sparked a conversation which inspired Sailor to challenge the idea of physical femininity that surrounded her at an all girls school. Which has become a ongoing theme in her art, both challenging and celebrating ideas of ‘beauty’.
“My friend’s and teachers respected my brave decision to shave my head. Yet I felt strange in out of school social scenarios. It made me realise how sick I was of focusing on my physical appearance. That I should be focusing on my experience of life as a whole instead”
— Sailor Kennard
Working in a hair salon Sailor says she finds herself surrounded by people wanting to feel better or more connected to their physical selves. The interesting question though, is ‘Why?’ Sailor wonders ‘What is beauty and how much value does it hold?’ Growing up during the Social Media boom, there are so many pressures on women her age to conform to a standard of beauty which is constantly paraded on our social feeds. After closer observation of her work you can see why Sailor says it can be hard to seperate priorities, optioning physical beauty to just being in the moment and enjoying daily life.
Sailor Kennard, Self Portrait
Sailor says her Art is currently at a more experimental stage. She’s finding her unique voice and identity as an artist by trying to discover new styles within different mediums. In particular Sailor is enjoying portraiture and has been investigating ideas around vanity and it’s place within culture throughout history. In particular Sailor has been questioning the role of the female nude in art history, especially as a guilt free observation of the female form. With this she’s wanted to replace the female form with male subjects. To do this she pulls images from homosexual erotic books,comics and rearranges them into compositions.
Sailor has been inspired by Allen Jones colourful and interesting representation of women. Allen addresses ideas surrounding objectification of women by painting and sculpting triggering images of women as furniture in over sexualised and idealised forms. Sailor is currently exploring these ideas through paint and seeing how it can flip humorously on male subjects.
“With the imprint of my touch within my ceramics I hope to inspire others to see and feel more. To notice things for what they are or what they could be.”
— Sailor Kennard
To keep up to date with Sailor’s journey and upcoming exhibitions you can follow her on Instagram @sailor_____1111
