@_joelsiilva

Joey George: Radical Hair, Radical Heart

There are artists who make beautiful things, and then there are artists who move through the world as beauty itself. Joey George has always felt like the latter: an alchemist who treats hair as sculpture, gesture, memory, and rebellion. Before the fashion shows and iconic collaborations, before the wigs that exploded across the internet or the hair sculptures that reimagined cultural lineage, there was simply a kid learning to speak through movement. Ballet gave Joey a language of lines; his father’s photography gave him a devotion to seeing. Today, that quiet discipline and restless experimentation live inside every image, every character, every hair he touches.It’s an honor to hold space for an artist who continues to transform his craft into something soulful, intentional, and defiantly alive. This interview - shaped by the curiosity and generosity of fellow hairstylist Jane Serenska - offers a glimpse into that ever-evolving world.

PHOTOGRAPHY JOEY GEORGE @joeygeorge
@streetersagency
INTERVIEW JANE SERENSKA  @sweetbbjane

Hi Joey ! I read in your bio that you started ballet as a young child. How did this shape you as an  artist?

Yes, my parents placed me in classes at the age of four. I was trained in the Vaganova  style until my teenage years when I trained under New York City Ballet Principle Ballerina Judith Fugate. I loved performing, the act of expressionism was my creative outlet. I had no interest in computer technology, sports, or gaming.
For me, it was about living in the present and expressing myself through my art - which is what currently shapes me as a visual artist today.  

How did you find your way into fashion and session styling? Did you explore other avenues  for your career or was designing for fashion and editorials always the path you wanted to take?

I never read fashion magazines or obsessed over models and photographers. But, after  graduating from the Aveda Institute, in New York, my eyes opened to the world of it all. My  roommates were club kids and they encouraged me to develop wigs and various crafted  materials as wearable artwork for nightlife performers. I started sharing my assets online  which opened doors for me to explore the fashion world, and what I could contribute to it.  Lady Gaga was one of my first big clients. She reached out over a hand painted wig I made.  She then flew me to Milan and all over Europe for her Art Pop tour.

Your father's photography practice and your affinity for performance art are also mentioned  here. It seems like you were destined for an artistic career, did it feel that way to you even as a  young person? How did you end up becoming a hair stylist? 

Hair styling was a trade that came naturally because I understood the principles of lines, form, and pattern. My parents encouraged me at an early age to be a licensed cosmetologist because they understood the limitations of a professional career as a performer. My father loved photography, it was a practice and creative outlet for him. I still remember watching him develop film. Unfortunately, I was too young to comprehend the complexity of it all. In my early 20s, when I first started taking pictures of my personal work, he gave me his Hasselblad camera and equipment from the 1970’s.The way the camera equipment captured the imagery of my work inspired how I chronicled it through Joey’s Journal.

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How did you find your way into fashion and session styling? Did you explore other avenues  for your career or was designing for fashion and editorials always the path you wanted to take?

I never read fashion magazines or obsessed over models and photographers. But, after  graduating from the Aveda Institute, in New York, my eyes opened to the world of it all.
My  roommates were club kids and they encouraged me to develop wigs and various crafted  materials as wearable artwork for nightlife performers. I started sharing my assets online  which opened doors for me to explore the fashion world, and what I could contribute to it.  Lady Gaga was one of my first big clients. She reached out over a hand painted wig I made.  She then flew me to Milan and all over Europe for her Art Pop tour.  

I love your portraits from studio visits that you share on your website and on Instagram. When  did this become a part of your practice? What prompts a studio visit? Do you have ideas that  come up that you know you want to explore in a studio visit or are they more free flowing than  that? 

Studio Visits evolved from testing hairstyles, wigs, and other headpieces on talent to  become a tool to persuade clients & creative teams to elevate hair concepts. Communicating a creative concept is only a quarter of the process and is often forgotten or misunderstood. By creating these kinds of visuals for fashion editorials and commercial  brands, it allowed me to really push for something special. Getting hair direction from  creative teams that do not understand the technicalities of hair such as textures, density, etc  happens too often in the industry… It is like confining the talent to a box. I like to think  outside of the box, with the understanding that others may need to see what can be possible  when they allow for creative expression.  

What is it like producing and photographing these shoots yourself? Do you feel a connection  to your father's photography practice through studio visits or does it feel distinct?

There is a divine alchemic energy in creating with someone inspiring. Documenting my  work is a part of my process of understanding what it is that I am trying to communicate. I  don’t consider myself a photographer, by any means, but I would like to think my photographic eye can be attributed to my father’s influence. 

There is a divine alchemic energy in creating with someone inspiring.

Joey's Journal is very inspiring. I love the way you collage your work with tape, paint,  illustration, and other media. When did you start this project and how often are you creating new  installments? Does it exist in print as well as online?

The concepts come from ideas that get reworked and potentially worked again years later. I have several artist note books that I look back on, it's an ongoing series that is a constant evolution with the times. I often get asked about book/zine making, there is so much I would love to share but for now I am a sponge.

At this point in your career, are you looking for new products and tools or do you feel you  have built your tried-and-true kit? Is there anything you have come across or helped develop that  you wish you'd had earlier in your career?  

I am always experimenting with new products and exploring new methods to elevate  my tools to refine my kit. In my assisting years working with Oribe Canales, I had the  opportunity to co-develop multiple products for his haircare brand. Oribe was never a fan of salt sprays because of the sodium that left hair feeling dull and dry. However, I felt there needed to be a cream hair texturizer that could be introduced in the foundational stage of  hairstyling - which launched as Matte Waves.

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What was it like building your relationship with Willy Chavarria? Was it immediately clear  that you were aligned creatively or was it a matter of time in working together? Have there been  other meaningful collaborators that have shaped your career?

Willy and I met in 2020 on a consulting project for Kanye West. It was an instant  magnetic connection - I loved the shapes and materials he was creating with. I was able to identify the characters in his collections and elevate them to a world which highlighted latin culture in an artful way.
For my first show with Willy, I stretched talents’ textured  hair and wrapped hairnets in sections creating 1930s-1950’s hair sculptures, reflecting the  Mexican Pachuco subculture, inspired by the response to social dislocation, discrimination, and racism against Mexican Americans. This form of creating cultural resistance with hair sparked a radical movement that I bring to every season with Willy.  

In your experience as an international educator, I imagine you interact with hair stylists of all  kinds. What is one piece of advice you often find yourself giving in this context? Did you receive  any impactful advice, or learn any lessons otherwise, as you were starting out in your career that  you reflect on when working with other hair stylists?

Yes! What I find that most stylists struggle with is perfectionism. There is something in  the process of education that is unteachable, it comes from experience and confidence from working with diverse hair textures, forms, and personalities… it is the ability to understand  technical foundational theories, formulas, and not suffer mentally in forcing what naturally progresses…
Some of my best work came from unintentional accidents. Sometimes it’s ok  to just fuck it up and learn from it.  

What's coming up next for you that you're looking forward to? Are there opportunities that  you know you'd like to get the chance to do, like a career bucket list?

I'm nearing the end of my 30’s and I'm looking forward to refining and elaborating on a lot of the work I've done over the years. The current political climate in America allows for a radical influence… Communities are in need of balance and I feel with my next body of work I would like to highlight those stories through performance art. 

@JOEYGEORGE