The Weeping Dress

The Weeping Dress
Craft Victoria— Melbourne, Australia
March 10 - April 21, 2011

with Craig Woodward on fiddle

The Weeping Dress was a performance and installation inspired by research into Victorian mourning rituals. During a woman's first year of mourning, nothing she wore could reflect the light. That meant wearing wool bombazine or crepe, which didn't hold plant-based dyes so color ran from the fabric in the rain and heat, staining her body. I am fascinated by how this public performance of grief was experienced in such a private and corporeal way. I made a period mourning dress out of black crepe paper that I activated in performance to release the fugitive dye and leave a stain, or trace behind.

Photos by Christian Capurro
Video by Andrew Liversedge