DAMN, YOUR NAILS LOOK GOOD

Fingernails are hard, horn-like dead skin cells protruding from the squishy softness of your digits. It’s weird that people paint and decorate them. Does that mean we should we airbrush and bedazzle corpses too? No, but that could be next and if so, Molly Surno would probably do an art show about that too.

She’s spent the past three years photographing Brooklyn nail salons, cataloging ladies and their various adornments. And she, along with seven other artists, will be showcasing ...

their various works (centered around the idea of adornment and decoration) in an art show entitled “Nefer/Nfr” opening tonight at Capricious Space in Brooklyn. Luiza Sa of CSS will be djing and Abby Walton will be doing free nail art at the opening.

Vice: Why nails? It seems like a pretty random subject matter to focus on.

Molly Surno: The week I moved to Brooklyn, I noticed that almost every woman had nail art. I was living in Bed-Stuy and was shocked how many salons there were–much more than my looks-obsessed home city of Los Angeles. Brooklyn is so culturally rich and I think this artistic expression among women tends to get overlooked. I see nail art as a feminist form of public art. Your body becomes your platform of self-expression, which is why I call the project “The Smallest Canvas.” The things I see on people’s tiny fingernails—their national flag, baby daddy’s name, sunsets, skylines, colors that match their sneakers, whatever—it’s so expressive.

So, do you think there’s a specific trait among girls that separates the one’s who like getting their nails done and the girls who don’t care? I never consider it as something to spend money on whereas some of my friends spend like, $30-$40 a week doing it.

What fascinated me was the class issue. Historically higher-class women had incredibly long nails in order to show they didn’t work with their hands. In this case, the salons that I went to were in more low-income areas, where women actually do have to work with their hands. It’s an appropriation of that idea. Some of the nails were so excruciatingly long that it seems impossible to do anything with them on. Symbols of sexiness and attraction really vary from culture to culture. A lot of ladies got their crazy long acrylics to feel sexy.

What kind of reactions did you get from the customers and employees that you photographed?

If you are spending $40 a week to get long, wild nails, it’s a major compliment to have people notice and want to photograph them. The whole point of investing in your nails is so people will notice. The employees were a little more skeptical, but I always got my nails done and gave them lots of prints. Initially I think they were afraid I was with some sort of health inspection organization because they are pretty unsanitary, but ultimately I gained their trust. Once they saw I was generally interested in their nail art, everyone was pretty flattered with the attention.

Was your focus just on Brooklyn?

I got a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council to complete the project, so I focused on South Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Bed-Stuy. I really feel like the salons are a microcosm for the face of Brooklyn. Once I was shooting at this spot called Spice Nails, on Broadway and Graham Avenue. I heard the Malaysian workers speaking their language, the Dominican customers speaking Spanglish, two Hasidic girls getting their eyebrows waxed were talking to each other in Yiddish, and all with a Beyonce song blaring in the background. I was so inspired by the crazy mishmash of culture and very excited to be a part of this neighborhood. It makes sense why nails do get so crazy, because you have all these different elements influencing you. I expressed some of this cultural diversity through a sound collage, which will accompany the images because I feel that the noises of the salons are so essential to understanding the creative process.

Well, do you think you may have cancer now because of all those fumes?

Ha. Cancer, no… but definitely less brain cells. The fumes can be very distracting. A few times I had to stop shooting because I got so lightheaded.

So, do you like getting your nails done?

YES! I also have a much deeper appreciation for the aesthetic of polished nails. The whole process is so communal and creative, and the cultural collision is so interesting. You have a lot of Chinese immigrants who own salons learning to speak Spanish, saying “hey mami” to their customers, and then writing Chinese characters on their nails. It’s kind of amazing.

I bet you notice girls’ nails a lot more now, right? If you see someone with a set of plain, boring nails does it make you wanna roll your eyes? Like, c’mon! Be a little creative.

When I am on the subway, I am always looking around at girls’ nails. Now I’m at the point where if I look at someone’s outfit or hairstyle, I can kind of guess what their nails are like. When I see french tips, I feel like… please!

What’s the craziest nail job you’ve ever seen?

Cut up dollars to put on their nails. Also this lady I saw in Puerto Rico had six-inch nails with layers of sunsets and flowers. It was nuts.

Did you ever have one of those tiny earrings through your pinkie nail? That was really popular when I was in middle school.

No. That should definitely come back. Although Japanese nail art is so outrageous. A lot of it is three-dimensional so there are feathers and jewels dripping off your hands.

Do you think the ladies who do this are artists in their own right? The designs can get pretty intense and very intricate.

Absolutely! No one would really consider these immigrant women who work at salons all day to be highly creative beings in the New York art scene. Since the 1970s, the art world has begun to consider murals and graffiti as public art pieces, all of which are primarily dominated by male artists. While there are many female graffiti artists, a more common art form in the projects of New York City is highly decorated, long, intricately designed nails. Like graffiti, I think of nail art as a form of public art.

All of your accumulated work is about to be exhibited in an upcoming show with seven other people. What else can we expect?

“Nefer/Nfr” delves into the idea of adornment and decoration as a mode of expressing community, ritual, belonging, sorrow, sexuality, and celebration. I think of the show as a complete examination between our daily expressions of self-decorating and how they take on meanings that signify cultural identification. You’ll see a headdress, masks made out of seeds and beads from the Amazon, and installations and sculptures that question our self-ornamentation.

And since you’re also the curator of this show, why’d you pick these particular artists?

Each artist in the show has authentically and thoughtfully created works that explore either their own personal relationship or cultural relationship with decorating. Sarah Kuhn, for example, has an installation called “Fear of Abandonment,” where her wedding rings and divorce papers are incorporated into her piece. Kenya Robinson focused on cultural systems and how they alter and direct thought perspectives of the individual, using collage to create electrifying sculptures. David Shull’s piece, “Funeral Attire,” represents how we use clothes to present our sadness in a world that has no real patience for mourning. Those are just a few examples, but you can really see the diversity of pieces and perspectives.

So, where’s the best place to get your nails done right?

Spice Nails on Broadway, NY Star on S. 5th, and Hello Beautiful on Bedford. These are all really different, but incredible in the nail art department. I wouldn’t suggest those places if you wanted just a plain manicure. The cool thing is, at the opening we will have free nail art by this amazing artist, Abby Walton. You can get any design to try out.

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