Shana Hoehn at Make Room 

The title of Shana Hoehn’s exhibition, A Tangle of Limbs and Long Hair — closing this week at Make Room — aptly describes the imagery of bodies and braids that circle through the works on view. Through a series of drawings and wood carvings, braids warp from being symbols of schoolgirl innocence into something more ominous and snake-like, threatening to overtake the body. 

In Rolled Into a Ball, two wooden braids flank the back of a circular form (implying a curled back), trailing down its surface and onto the floor. Yet in other works, the braids turn into void-like cavities that overtake the human form. In an eponymously titled wooden sculpture, a large-scale braided cocoon hangs from the ceiling, its back splits to reveal the backside of a human torso. An untitled drawing echoes this form, with a double-ended braid splitting in the center to become a vaginal black void. 

Across other drawings and sculptural wall works (like the aluminum-cast Breast Bracket #3 with Flower, which doubles as a breast and a vase for a lily bud), Hoehn blends the body with natural objects and cultural symbols (braids, voids, knots, bows) to create a nuanced topology that explores childhood, sexuality, gender, and our inner psyches. 

On view: September 17 – October 15, 2022

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Photo: Installation view of Shana Hoehn Solo Exhibition A Tangle of Limbs and Long Hair. Image courtesy Make Room, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua Schaedel.