Hair as Keepsake​

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A Hands-On Workshop in Victorian Hair work

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25th October, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Bankfield Museum, Halifax

Runs alongside the exhibition In Loving Memory

All tools and materials provided

(including real and synthetic hair options)

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Welcome, creative souls, to a space where history and imagination entwine.In this workshop, we journey into the intricate world of Victorian hair work,  an obscure history, rich with sentiment, symbolism, and care.

 

Rarely mentioned in art history books or scholarly texts, hair work survives in silence, tucked away in museum archives and private collections. These delicate and intimate objects, often unsigned and unnamed, bear quiet witness to the women who made them. Their creative labour, confined to the domestic sphere and dismissed by dominant narratives, endures as a subtle yet powerful act of resistance.

 

This workshop runs alongside In Loving Memory, an exhibition that explores our changing attitudes toward death and the ways we cope with loss. Featuring displays of mourning wear, jewellery, and imagery, the exhibition speaks to the universal nature of loss and the deeply human need to remember.

 

Some of the Victorian hair work on display is from my own private collection, offering

a rare opportunity to encounter these intimate works up close.Against this backdrop, you are

invited to reimagine and revive the lost art of Victorian hair work. Together, we will craft hair

flowers inspired by traditional techniques, honouring the ingenuity, resilience, and

emotional depth of their makers.

 

To work with human hair is to engage with memory, presence, and absence. Each strand carries a story; each knot a connection across time. Through this practice, we don’t just recreate a lost art, we contribute to the reweaving of erased histories and marginalised voices.

 

This is more than a craft workshop.

It is a space for reflection, reclamation, and quiet resistance.

 

Welcome to the circle. Let’s begin.

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Free Live Demonstrations
Join me in the exhibition space as I bring Victorian hairwork techniques back to life. From hair embroidery and tableware to palette work and wirework, each session will explore a different method once used to craft intimate memorials.

Follow me on social media or check the Bankfield Museum events page for updates on what I’ll be demonstrating on each date.

Dates: Sept 27th | Oct 4th, 11th, 18th | Nov 1st, 15th, 29th | Jan 17th | Feb 14th
Drop-in times: 12–3.30pm