Java.Dec.2.2015

Walking into Palabra hair.art.collective is like stepping into a canvas. The
walls feel high, and though they have art on them, the placement feels as
though you’re ingesting much more blank space than art. As a viewer you are
invited to create meaning, to pull it apart, to have a space within the space.
The art in no way overpowers your narrative or feels intrusive.
Even the music when I walk in is hushed. It’s King Krule, a new wave jazz
musician, crooning. The words are inaudible. Everything about Palabra
feeds off nuance and space—hyper minimalism. The shop’s construction
synthesizes the vision of Palabra in general.
Tucked away off Pierce and Seventh Street, Palabra has been open for three
years now and is planning a move in January to a location that puts it in
the spotlight even more. Owner and curator Jorge Torres calls this move his
major label debut—his LP, in other words.
If Palabra were a style of music it would be a modern take on jazz. Jazz by
nature is about breaking rules and imagining the future with a respectful ode
to the past. Palabra is a jazz ensemble that incorporates a matrix of parts
working together to push Phoenix forward in a new way.
The physical space serves as both hair salon and gallery. Palabra hosts a
bevy of artists who are all, in their own ways, emerging from the crevices
of Phoenix. “I thrive on discovering something new and watching its
growth,” Torres said. “To me that’s a much more mesmerizing and beautiful
process than bringing in someone that’s already established.”
The current space is one big room that contains gallery and salon, but in
the new space those functions will be more segregated. The desire to
break up the space speaks to the pride Torres has in both, and a sense that
he doesn’t prioritize one over the other. All components of Palabra are as
important as the next, and Torres wants people to be able to experience
them separately.
It wasn’t that long ago that Torres was relatively new to the scene himself.
Raised in East Los Angeles before moving to Phoenix for high school, he
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