I don’t know where the scissors came from, and at first I don’t read what they are for, but her eyes have engaged the monitor. She is using her own image as guide in (as I later learned) a reversed ‘mirror’ effect in which the image on the screen is ‘flipped’ to reverse the action, swapping right and left to create a reflection. It appears that she is using the tips of the scissors to lever the cap away from her head. While I wonder what’s coming, I realise I’m hearing the exquisite crispness of the slicing scissors, crunched slightly louder by the hanging microphone. She’s cutting the hair. The points of the scissors are sliding into the dark gap between the scalp and the cap and there’s a moment of shock. I don’t know when I found out that the cap was glued to the hair but, even without that knowing, the logic of the action is unquestionable—the only possible release from the hat is to cut the hair. It’s funny and strangely scary and it’s happening for real.
(From the essay by Clare Grant in Flesh Winnow)
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