Maiden's Garlands

Kate Rampling

Skar Image Lab
1 New Bond St, Kingsland

6 - 30 June 2024

Opening Thursday 6 June, 5:30pm

Part of the Auckland Festival of Photography

Rampling's latest works highlight the little-known and fading tradition of the Maiden's Garland. Made for the deceased, they were a British funeral rite specifically for unmarried or virgin women who have passed. The tradition is both an unusual celebration of female purity and a sentimental act for the grieving. Attracted by the visual style and drawn to the act of remembrance, Rampling created a series of garlands and conceptual images to highlight symbolic representations of purity. The works function as a reflection on past concepts of female virtue and a celebration of creative acts that heal in times of bereavement.