Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir

Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, known as Shoplifter, is an Icelandic artist who uses natural and synthetic hair to make sculptures, wall works and immersive installations. Her work treats hair as a material through which people construct identity, bringing questions of beauty, fashion and self-image into brightly coloured, often humorous environments.

She represented Iceland at the 2019 Venice Biennale with Chromo Sapiens, an installation later shown at Reykjavík Art Museum and permanently installed at Höfuðstöðin, the Reykjavík art centre she co-founded.

Her work also crosses into music and fashion imagery. The September 2004 issue of Dazed & Confused credits her hair sculpture on its Björk cover, alongside Laurence Passera's photography and Hussein Chalayan's montage. The issue documents the close collaboration between experimental pop, fashion and visual art around Medúlla.