In Bair’s new photographs, she embraces self-investigation as a visualization of agency in an active reclamation of the female Black body in the face of hypersexualization and the dominant white, male gaze. In these self-portraits, Bair actively controls which aspects of her body she conceals and reveals, using obstruction and reflection simultaneously to abstract and mediate access to her body and her self. The images are constructed using mirrors, proposing movement between frames, and printed on metallic paper, pointing to the reflective nature of their making.  Using negatives and solarization, Bair takes the familiar and makes it otherworldly, emphasizing the importance of the sun in her work and exploring the interaction between light and darkness. 

These images are in conversation with her cyanotypes which are ongoing examples of Bair’s continued collaboration with the sun. In these works, she photosensitizes cloth with cyanotype chemicals and uses hair to make painterly, calligraphic marks, recording the interaction between her hair and the light. Against the indigo blue background characteristic of cyanotypes, these works marry the artist’s body and the photographic process to create works that are at once deeply personal and familiar their abstraction.