Memento Mori
Dawn Palm introduced Shayde Douglas, seen here being greeted by President Kay. Shade describes herself as an educator, librarian, social worker and activist. She created her business - 'Artistic Disorder' to fuel curiosity, learning and creativity and to share her passion for experiential learning. Everything Artistic Disorder does stands guided by values of inclusivity, growth, lifelong learning and the power of creative play in supporting well-being.
As a librarian, Shayde loves to do research. She became interested in Memento Mori, which is literally an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. Shayde prefers the expression 'Pieces of the People We Love'.
Shayde focussed on hair, explaining that people have been giving and receiving locks of hair as keepsakes and expressions of love for centuries. She shared some of her research into this aspect of the history of hair. It is only in the last hundred years or so that using strands of a loved one's hair to make meaningful art has fallen out of fashion. Nowadays people tend to find it macabre and share photos instead.
Hair can symbolize race and culture and has different aspects in different cultures. Its expression can be found across all cultures and all ages of history. This can also be political. In Iran and Turkey hair is veiled whereas in secular countries, there are laws to prevent veiling of hair in public spaces.
Hair lasts forever. Early Christians assigned great value to relics of saints. These included pieces of bone, teeth and hair and some of these were enshrined in expensive jewellery. Medieval knights carried locks of hair of their beloved into battles. In the Victorian era, friends exchanged hair bracelets in much the same way young people exchange friendship bracelets today. Families would make a family wreath, using locks of hair from family members living and dead. These were often complex displays presented in the way a family collage of photos might be today.
Memento Mori or grieving became very popular in the Victorian era and hit its peak in 1861 when Queen Victoria stylishly embraced hair jewellery as part of her mourning ritual on the passing of Prince Albert. There was a very high death rate for children in the 1800s and it was very popular to have a memento mori of a child, who had passed away.
Shayde shared examples and photos of different types of hair jewellery and explained some of the ways of making it.