Unraveling Histories: Hairwork, Memory, and the Abject

Hair carries traces of who we are, our essence, presence, and absence. Victorian hairwork, often dismissed as a sentimental relic, could be regarded as a silent resistance, a way of being remembered at a time when women were systematically silenced. These intricate embroideries and mourning tokens hold a cultic value that cannot be reproduced, their power lying in the material itself, hair as both the aura and the remnant of life.

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I engage directly with these fragile histories through collecting, archiving, and research visits, learning through the material and its makers. As a working-class, late-diagnosed dyslexic woman, I am drawn to the tension between visibility and erasure, being present yet unseen. My fascination with hair work may stem from a fear of being forgotten, yet it also fuels my exploration of what we leave in our wake.

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Hair, an intimate body extension, crosses private and public boundaries. Once cut, it becomes the abject, both cherished and discarded, beautiful and grotesque. How do these remnants of the past speak to the traces we leave behind? What do they reveal about memory, power, and value?

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Please explore the links below to see the items I’ve studied and my ongoing research findings.