Hurricane Katrina Hair: Rereading Nineteenth-Century Commemorative Hair Forms and Fragments Through the “Mourning Portraits” of Loren Schwerd

Abstract

This article examines sculptural portraits by artist Loren Schwerd. Fashioned from hairpieces discovered in the 2005 wreckage of Hurricane Katrina, they are memorials to the African American victims and evacuees of the storm. Their title, Mourning Portrait, recalls nineteenth-century traditions of mourning and commemorative hairwork in which the locks of living and dead loved ones were manipulated into intricate fashions and home décor. They also incorporate African American hairstyling techniques to interpret the flood-ravaged homes of local residents. Thus, on one hand, they take inspiration from Victorian hairwork traditions, which channeled the talismanic power of hair fragments to evoke absent bodies and memory. On the other hand, they expand and politicize the meanings of commemorative hair forms and fragments toward evoking collective histories, memories, and larger social issues, bringing new urgency and immediacy to fashion-related material cultures of mourning. Exploring the interlinked narratives of Schwerd’s “mourning portraits” and Victorian hairwork, this article uses cultural theory, material culture studies, archival research, fashion theory, and African American studies to broaden critical insights into state-sanctioned racial and class-based violence, and modes of resistance that take shape through aesthetic and representational forms.