Bara Prasilova’s Photographs Feature Women with Impossibly Long Braids

Exquisitely long hair is an age-old hallmark of femininity — one that Czech photographer Bara Prasilova humorously subverts with a photo series that features models with impossibly long braids. While the length of a heroine’s braid was always a point of praise in Eastern European folklore, Prasilova takes this aesthetic preference to its extreme. Her models use their braids as scarves and jump ropes. One woman casually lies on her stomach like a teenager talking on the phone, her ankles tethered to her head with braids that act as leg warmers.

At times, the braids hint at a hidden symbolism. A braid binds mother and child, growing from one head to the other and linking them whether they like it or not. Another wraps around an adolescent girl’s wrists as she glances to the side cautiously. She is dressed clothing better suited for someone many years her senior and she doesn’t appear comfortable in her own skin. While many of the photos in the series are quirky and humorous (Prasilova’s pastel color palette and immaculate styling certainly helps), some of them gesture towards the pressures women face to appear beautiful and feminine in every circumstance.