Hair apparent: Benusis' "Slutty Red Slippers"If there's one thing people aren't neutral about, it's hair -- especially someone else's. This very public and private part of ourselves is either displayed proudly, as on our heads, or shaved and waxed off because it is "unsightly." In short, hair is simultaneously deemed sexy and repugnant.

    Perhaps it's our visceral reaction to hair that adds to the power and fascination of MaryAnne Benusis' sculptures -- works that are created entirely from human hair. (The York Fine Arts student and hair sculptor is a haircutter by trade.)

    Benusis uses her clients' hair to create everything from umbrellas and shoes, to hats and condoms. All her objects have one thing in common, they're things we purchase for protection. "Hair represents survival," says Benusis. "It keeps us warm. And it's part of my protection too. It's the way I make a living."

    Hair sculpture is not completely new to the art world. In 1936, Meret Oppenheim unveiled her fur-lined teacup titled "The Object" which sits in New York's Museum of Modern Art. But while Oppenheim added hair to an object, Benusis says her approach is to make hair into one.

    Her recent exhibits at BCE Place and Toronto Women's Bookstore won rave reviews.

    One of Benusis' first works was when she covered a banquet hall's urinals in hair during an art exhibit there. "People said they represented vaginas," says Benusis.

    "The interesting thing about hair is, if it's attached to your head or made into an object it's ok. But if it's just in bags or scattered around it's seen as disgusting," says Benusis who has about 15 bags of different colours of hair in her apartment.

    Her latest creation is a work called "Slutty Red Slippers" -- a pair of hair high heels dyed brilliant red. Her work is relatively inexpensive (hair condoms run $30), but works such as the slippers are more costly.

    "I'm asking $1,200 for the Slutty Slippers," says Benusis with a laugh. "They're deliberately overpriced, but that's what it would take for me to part with them."