DONNA LOWSON
Conceptual Artist
Victorian Hairwork Collection
Copyright: Donna Lowson
Victorian hair work is a craft of remembrance, delicate, intricate, and deeply personal. Wreaths, brooches, and mourning jewellery preserved love and loss, carrying the presence of those who came before. Some original pieces from my collection can be seen above, and to the right is my collection on show at Bankfield Museum at the In Loving Memory Exhibition 2025/26.
.I collect not just to preserve but to learn through material, to hold history in my hands. Each piece is a silent record of memory, class, and gendered expectation, particularly the sentimentality and restraint imposed on women. Through talks, and workshops, I share these works, bringing their obscured histories into contemporary conversation.
Copyright: Donna Lowson
​​​Reviving a Forgotten Craft
Hair is both intimate and unsettling, tied to identity, DNA, and time. Victorian hair work fascinates me for its contradictions: permanence and absence, beauty and repulsion, reverence and restriction. My practice often reinterprets these techniques, weaving past and present.
By studying and collecting these objects, I not only preserve their legacy but revive their methods through workshops, talks, and elements of my own practice. I actively research Victorian hair work through museum archives, where I study historical pieces first-hand, tracing their origins through genealogy, records, newspaper articles, and artwork analysis. Alongside this, my personal collection allows for close material study, deepening my understanding of these intricate works.
This research remains ongoing as I continue to explore the provenance, class, and movements of these objects, as well as the individuals whose hair was used.
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Engage & Learn
I collaborate with artists, museums, and historians, exploring hair work’s narratives through exhibitions, research, and new creations. I also offer workshops where participants can create their own hair flowers and connect with this lost craft.
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