In keeping with Hayden’s body of work and practice, this work challenges traditionally held notions of structural power in society, using commonplace forms as a mode of interrogation. Here, Hayden takes on the traditional elementary school desk– the physical representation of childhood education. He proposes new ways of interpreting through his manipulation of form, and challenges our understanding of childhood, education, and structure in society by re-imagining the object in a quasi-surrealist style. Indeed, the school-desk, an object layered with complex cultural meaning, is covered with transparent toilet brush bristles. Enveloping the desk in a hard, prickly barrier, the bristles evoke the many structural issues, such as socioeconomic status and race, that inhibit access to childhood education. This is not the first time Hayden has taken up the child’s school-desk as his subject. This sculpture notably references the large-scale installation, Brier Patch (2022), which was commissioned by the Madison Square Park Conservancy and later travelled to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC, and Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas. In this context though, Hayden’s adoption of a toilet brush pushes his exploration of the school-desk in new ways, as it introduces questions about the sanitation and cleansing of historical narratives in the American classroom. While the shape of the desk remains clear, the object we know is rendered unfamiliar and our understanding of what it represents is further obscured.

In keeping with Hayden’s body of work and practice, this work challenges traditionally held notions of structural power in society, using commonplace forms as a mode of interrogation. Here, Hayden takes on the traditional elementary school desk– the physical representation of childhood education. He proposes new ways of interpreting through his manipulation of form, and challenges our understanding of childhood, education, and structure in society by re-imagining the object in a quasi-surrealist style. Indeed, the school-desk, an object layered with complex cultural meaning, is covered with transparent toilet brush bristles. Enveloping the desk in a hard, prickly barrier, the bristles evoke the many structural issues, such as socioeconomic status and race, that inhibit access to childhood education. This is not the first time Hayden has taken up the child’s school-desk as his subject. This sculpture notably references the large-scale installation, Brier Patch (2022), which was commissioned by the Madison Square Park Conservancy and later travelled to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC, and Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas. In this context though, Hayden’s adoption of a toilet brush pushes his exploration of the school-desk in new ways, as it introduces questions about the sanitation and cleansing of historical narratives in the American classroom. While the shape of the desk remains clear, the object we know is rendered unfamiliar and our understanding of what it represents is further obscured.

In keeping with Hayden’s body of work and practice, this work challenges traditionally held notions of structural power in society, using commonplace forms as a mode of interrogation. Here, Hayden takes on the traditional elementary school desk– the physical representation of childhood education. He proposes new ways of interpreting through his manipulation of form, and challenges our understanding of childhood, education, and structure in society by re-imagining the object in a quasi-surrealist style. Indeed, the school-desk, an object layered with complex cultural meaning, is covered with transparent toilet brush bristles. Enveloping the desk in a hard, prickly barrier, the bristles evoke the many structural issues, such as socioeconomic status and race, that inhibit access to childhood education. This is not the first time Hayden has taken up the child’s school-desk as his subject. This sculpture notably references the large-scale installation, Brier Patch (2022), which was commissioned by the Madison Square Park Conservancy and later travelled to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC, and Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas. In this context though, Hayden’s adoption of a toilet brush pushes his exploration of the school-desk in new ways, as it introduces questions about the sanitation and cleansing of historical narratives in the American classroom. While the shape of the desk remains clear, the object we know is rendered unfamiliar and our understanding of what it represents is further obscured.

In keeping with Hayden’s body of work and practice, this work challenges traditionally held notions of structural power in society, using commonplace forms as a mode of interrogation. Here, Hayden takes on the traditional elementary school desk– the physical representation of childhood education. He proposes new ways of interpreting through his manipulation of form, and challenges our understanding of childhood, education, and structure in society by re-imagining the object in a quasi-surrealist style. Indeed, the school-desk, an object layered with complex cultural meaning, is covered with transparent toilet brush bristles. Enveloping the desk in a hard, prickly barrier, the bristles evoke the many structural issues, such as socioeconomic status and race, that inhibit access to childhood education. This is not the first time Hayden has taken up the child’s school-desk as his subject. This sculpture notably references the large-scale installation, Brier Patch (2022), which was commissioned by the Madison Square Park Conservancy and later travelled to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC, and Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas. In this context though, Hayden’s adoption of a toilet brush pushes his exploration of the school-desk in new ways, as it introduces questions about the sanitation and cleansing of historical narratives in the American classroom. While the shape of the desk remains clear, the object we know is rendered unfamiliar and our understanding of what it represents is further obscured.

In keeping with Hayden’s body of work and practice, this work challenges traditionally held notions of structural power in society, using commonplace forms as a mode of interrogation. Here, Hayden takes on the traditional elementary school desk– the physical representation of childhood education. He proposes new ways of interpreting through his manipulation of form, and challenges our understanding of childhood, education, and structure in society by re-imagining the object in a quasi-surrealist style. Indeed, the school-desk, an object layered with complex cultural meaning, is covered with transparent toilet brush bristles. Enveloping the desk in a hard, prickly barrier, the bristles evoke the many structural issues, such as socioeconomic status and race, that inhibit access to childhood education. This is not the first time Hayden has taken up the child’s school-desk as his subject. This sculpture notably references the large-scale installation, Brier Patch (2022), which was commissioned by the Madison Square Park Conservancy and later travelled to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC, and Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas. In this context though, Hayden’s adoption of a toilet brush pushes his exploration of the school-desk in new ways, as it introduces questions about the sanitation and cleansing of historical narratives in the American classroom. While the shape of the desk remains clear, the object we know is rendered unfamiliar and our understanding of what it represents is further obscured.