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Synthetic hair, artist's hair, imitation and 24k gold leaf on copper, enamel paint, and chainLabel Type
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Angela Hennessy
American, born 1971
MOURNING WREATH
2017/2022
Synthetic hair, artist’s hair, imitation and 24k gold leaf on copper, enamel paint, chain
Crocker Art Museum purchase with funds provided by Simon K. Chiu, 2022.111.1
SUBJECT: In Mourning Wreath, Hennessy gathers, coils, and braids human hair with synthetic hair sourced from Oakland beauty and wig shops. Hair has long been used in grief rituals across the world, from Nigeria and South Africa to Victorian England and the U.S. As the artist explains, “For black people specifically, hair is tangled with politics of race and hierarchies of power.” Hennessy’s wreath memorializes the collective trauma experienced by generations of Black individuals in the U.S.
ARTIST: Hennessy lives in Oakland and is a professor at the California College of the Arts. In addition to teaching, writing, and artmaking, she has volunteered at a hospice facilitating death vigils, home funerals, and mourning rituals.
LOOK FOR: The connection to Victorian traditions in which wreaths were made of hair to commemorate loved ones.