CHINGSUM JESSYE LUK
please (at) lookaround (dot) us

Loss (1 km / 2,601 strands / 01.03 - 11.05.2018), 2018 - 2019
Hair, glass and brass vitrine, 21 x 21 x 10 cm
India ink on paper, 70 x 132 cm

For each strand lost hair, a straight line of the same length was drawn on paper.

***

Loss (1 year / 16,671 strands / 612,867 cm), 2018 - 2019
Hair, acrylic glass and wood vitirine, 30 x 30 x 9 cm
12 india ink drawings on paper, 70 x 50 cm each
Collected from 12.05.2018 - 11.05.2019

Photo by Zoe Tempest

For each strand lost hair, a straight line of the same length was drawn on paper.
Each drawing represents my hair loss of one month.

***

Loss (10,000 strands / 12.05 - 30.11.2019 / 295,513 cm), 2019
Hair 14 ø x 7 cm in Bell jar, ø 29 x h 40 cm
Cotton threads on Aida cloth, 62.5 x 68 cm, Metal rod 1 ø x 74 cm

A hand-sewn frequency histogram of loss hairs' lengths.

***

Loss (End of a decade - December 2019 / 1,367 strands / 46,013 cm), 2020
Hair in glass jar with lid, ø 7.5 x 7.5 cm
India ink on paper, 50 x 50 cm

Loss (Beginning of a decade- January 2020 / 1,315 strands / 44,824 cm), 2020
Hair in glass jar with lid, ø 7.5 x 7.5 cm
India ink on paper, 50 x 50 cm

***

Loss (Paris, 03.02 - 26.07.2020 / 8,638 strands / 308,296 cm), 2020
Hair on pillow case, pillow, 41 x 49 x 9 cm

***

Loss (12 Spools / 15,408 strands / 631,132 cm), 2020 - 2021
Hair on used thread spools, needles, wood, 15 x 29 x 7.5 cm
Collected 27.07.2020 - 29.08.2021



***

Loss (1 percent / 890 strands / 37,451 cm), 2021
Loss (1 percent / 890 strands / 38,784 cm), 2021
Loss (1 percent / 890 strands / 38,435 cm), 2021
Collected 29.08 - 20.10.2021
Woven hair, ø 10 x 0.2 cm each
Frames 30 x 30 x 5 cm each



***

Loss (10% / 8,900 strands / 330,962 cm), 2022
Woven hair, 36 x 40 x 0.2 cm
Collected 20.10.2021-18.07.2022

***

Loss (200 black strands / 200 grey strands / 6,187 cm each), 2023
Woven hair, polyester threads, brass, wood
25,5 x 31 x 5 cm
Collected 09.09.2021 - 17.10.2023



Whenever I lost a grey hair, I collected it separately.
For each strand of lost grey hair, I put aside as well a strand of my lost black hair of the same length.

***

Loss(18,300 strands / 370 days / 602,148 cm), 2023
Ashes from burnt hair in hourglass
16 x 7 x 7 cm
Collected 19.07.2022 - 17.10.2023



18,300 strands of lost hair were burnt and collected in an hourglass shaped vessel.

***

Loss (2,730 strands / 10g / 105,835 cm), to be realised
Collected 26.01 - 21.04.2023

There exists companies which produce laboratory-grown diamonds by extracting carbon from hair or cremation ashes.
The amount of hair required is listed as 10g on the website of one of these companies

My proposal is to turn these 10 grams of my hair loss into a synthetic diamond.

You can own a piece of me.

The price of thispiece will be: the price to be paid to the diamond production company plus a fee of 30% of the price of the diamond as renumeration of my work and to cover the administration and any additional costs involved in the process.
For example: if the price of the diamond is CHF 10,000, the client is to pay a fee of CHF 3000 as renumeration for my work. Total CHF 13,000.
The whole process can take from 6 to 18 months.
The colour, size, and cut of the diamond to be produced will be decided upon with the buyer of the piece.
The order will be placed in the name of the buyer.
I will liaise with the diamond production company throughout the production process, and inform the buyer of the production status whenever updates are available.
When the production is finished, and the fees paid, the buyer of the piece will receive the diamond, copies of my correspondence with the diamond production company, and the documents from the company relating to the production process.