Shannon Romano, a US-based hair artist, sets aside scissors and comb and picks up a paintbrush to design hair. Working under the alias PIGMENT, she has spent over 20 years as a hairstylist, painting images directly onto hair in a practice that breaks away from conventional styling. Her materials are the dyes and hair color found in any salon, but her tool is a painter's brush. She spreads the hair thin like a canvas and paints faces onto it.
Her latest body of work, LOVESICK, features a platinum blonde wig painted with multiple faces and mouths. There is also a split wig where faces half-emerge across long black hair. She has introduced the Ghost Wig, holding a ghostly face. The same motif keeps taking new forms across her pieces.
Romano uses hair as a canvas, applying color with dye. She draws lines with the brush and shapes the contours of a face. Lips, eyes, and nose emerge between the strands. The wigs are not flat—they sway and move in space.
"Trusting the audience to complete the narrative in their own unique way is what truly brings my work to life." Whose face she paints, she says, is for each viewer to decide. Interpretation passes into the hands of the audience.
What face do you see rising through the strands?
Her latest body of work, LOVESICK, features a platinum blonde wig painted with multiple faces and mouths. There is also a split wig where faces half-emerge across long black hair. She has introduced the Ghost Wig, holding a ghostly face. The same motif keeps taking new forms across her pieces.
Romano uses hair as a canvas, applying color with dye. She draws lines with the brush and shapes the contours of a face. Lips, eyes, and nose emerge between the strands. The wigs are not flat—they sway and move in space.
"Trusting the audience to complete the narrative in their own unique way is what truly brings my work to life." Whose face she paints, she says, is for each viewer to decide. Interpretation passes into the hands of the audience.
What face do you see rising through the strands?
FAQ
Who is PIGMENT?
PIGMENT is the alias of American hair artist Shannon Romano. For over two decades, he's worked as a hairstylist, creating a distinctive practice of painting faces with dye and brushes on hair as his canvas.
What defines the LOVESICK series?
LOVESICK is Shannon Romano's recent body of work, featuring multiple faces and mouths painted on platinum blonde wigs. The motif evolves across split wigs with faces emerging from long black hair, ghost wigs bearing spectral faces, and more.
What materials does Shannon Romano use?
Shannon Romano uses salon hair dye and coloring agents as his medium, but works with a painter's brushes. He spreads hair flat like a canvas, drawing lines and sculpting facial contours with his brush.
