Memento Mori
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A field study of Victorian hairwork jewelry as material grief: the braiding of human hair into brooches, rings, and watch chains to preserve an incorruptible tether to the dead. This archival piece traces its craft, class economics, folklore, and the slow decay that now imperils the tokens themselves.
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A field study of William H. Mumler, whose accidental self-portrait birthed spirit photography. Set against a nation drowning in Civil War dead, this archival piece chronicles his rise, his celebrated forgeries of the Lincolns, his trial for fraud, and the enduring hunger that made a chemical accident feel like resurrection.