Where did the idea of Detour come from? My background is actually in photography, so for me everything starts with visuals. I was just going through some magazines for inspiration and I came across a bunch of hair laid on different surfaces. On the sink, on the ground… I thought: “What if hair were alive and slowly started to take up more and more space?” 

You’ve spoken of the endless possibilities to create your own worlds through your art. How would you describe the world you have conjured up here? I’m fascinated by the idea of a specific substance slowly taking over and occupying space. I remember a horror film from the 90s, Habitat, in which plants conquered the world. It’s similar with Detour, just this time it’s hair that’s taking over. I enjoy playing with the question “What if the world were covered in hair? What would that world look like? What would happen then?”. It’s basically my chance to lose and re-create what I imagine. I thought of it as a pretty sensual world, but also slightly dangerous and sinister.

In the film, the hair gradually transforms into something sinister which our heroine needs to escape from. Is there an underlying message here about our relationship with our own hair? It’s true, there is a definite shift from something positive to something a little more edgy. But rather than a message about our relationship with our own hair, it is more about discovery. Our heroine is getting to know something new, a creature that has come to life. It’s new and exciting but also a bit scary. We are learning with her what it would be like to live in this world, and initiate a new relationship with an environment that seems friendly at first, but slowly reveals its true nature.

You have previously said you’re a big believer in sensual experiences in art. Is sensuality the emotion you wish to evoke here, and if so how does hair feel like the right medium to translate this? When I talk about sensual experiences, what I refer to is the concept developed by Russian artist Ilya Kabakov called ‘Total Installation’. What this means is that there is not just one way to perceive art, rather we should be looking at it from different angles and experience it with different senses. Here, it being a film, we are obviously mainly using our sight, but by focusing on hair and our interaction with it we are able to imagine what touching it would feel like. I wanted to transmit sensuality through it, the feeling you get from running your fingers through hair. What I find interesting about hair is its duality. It’s soft and beautiful, but at the same time it can be disgusting to some people. In Detour I’m playing with the two sides, the transition from sensuality to rejection.