widow's weeds

The term”widow’s weeds” refers to the black clothing worn (principally) by female widows during the Victorian era, which dictated a strict etiquette of mourning that governed both their behavior and their appearance following the deaths of their husbands or children. Viewed publicly as the standard of strict personal behavior and morality, this tradition significantly influenced the attitudes for mourning across cultures, including the Italian culture.

The first funeral I attended was for my paternal grandfather when I was only six years old. I was frightened and traumatized as a small child to witness several of my Italian aunts dressed in black from head to toe, wailing loudly in grief as they paid their last respects to their father. As a small child I did not understand the rituals for burial nor the mourning and grieving process that followed. I remember vividly one of my elderly aunts, always dressed in black for religious services for months following my grandfather’s passing. As children, we were taught never to question why my aunt wore a veil to conceal her face nor why she wore a turban and dressed in black to attend mass. These events had a significant impact on me at a young age and to this day I am uncomfortable attending any memorial service or funeral.

Widow’s Weeds explores the vernacular mourning photograph as visual, emotional and social mores. By hand-stitching and reinterpreting the mourning portrait as objects, the images in the series establish a dialog with the original vernacular images as an archive for memory and loss. A mourning veil accompanies each portrait as an outer expression of the inner feelings that shield the mourner, hiding their grief.