Dublin City Council Presents Peer by Amanda Jane Graham at The LAB Gallery
Published on 6th July 2026
Curated by Margarita Cappock, Peer reveals the untold story of hairstylists’ creative contribution to visual culture from the Renaissance to the present day through drawing, sculpture and sound installation.
Dublin City Council is pleased to present Peer, a new exhibition by artist Amanda Jane Graham at The LAB Gallery from 8 July to 15 August 2026. Curated by Margarita Cappock, the exhibition will be officially opened on Tuesday, 8 July by Dylan Bradshaw, Ireland’s leading hairstylist.
Drawing together visual art, sociology and Graham’s twenty-four-year career as a hairstylist, Peer explores the overlooked relationship between hairdressing and art history. Through detailed research and artistic enquiry, Graham investigates the ways in which hairstylists have contributed to visual culture while often being denied recognition for their creative and artistic expertise.
The exhibition title refers to the campaign of eighteenth-century Parisian hairstylists who sought recognition as artistic practitioners and peers within the arts. Their efforts culminated in the publication of a hairdressing manifesto in 1768. Through drawing, sculpture and sound installation, Graham traces this largely untold history and examines how perceptions of hairdressing have evolved from the Renaissance to the present day.
The works invite audiences to reconsider historical portraiture and visual culture through the perspective of the hairstylist. Referencing salon tools, techniques and methodologies, Graham highlights the materiality, texture and sculptural qualities of hair while drawing attention to the significant role hairstylists have played in creating the images and identities represented in art.
Speaking about the exhibition, Amanda Jane Graham said, “I am deeply grateful to The LAB Gallery’s curator, Dr Margarita Cappock, for her support of Peer and its message. Peer is a response to the occupational discrimination I experienced while working as a hairstylist, and through a sociological investigation I uncover hairdressing’s rich and fascinating history, tracing its artistic and cultural significance back to Egypt in 3400 BCE. With Peer, I seek to reevaluate art history, question how it is viewed and who is appreciated, and celebrate the historical collaborations that have shaped visual culture.”
Central to the exhibition is the concept of the mirror as a hairstylist’s “third eye”, a point of direct connection between stylist and client. Graham extends this idea into her artistic practice, using her work as a means of engaging viewers in a new conversation about visibility, authorship and recognition.
The exhibition continues The LAB Gallery’s commitment to supporting ambitious contemporary artistic practice and presenting projects that engage with cultural and social histories in innovative ways.
***Please see attached Images from Peer Exhibition, by artist Amanda Jane Graham, currated by Margarita Cappock at the LAB Gallery ***
ENDS
