Shirley Chubb

Young Boy Young Girl

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Young boy : Young girl 2008

Worthing Museum & Art Gallery

Young boy : Young girl explores the social and scientific knowledge of the Victorian era and the enduring impact of this period on contemporary life.

The work was made in response to the Victorian sentimental and mourning jewellery, collection held by Worthing Museum & Art Gallery where the intricately woven human hair in some items is both fascinating and poignant. The jewellery is a perfect example of the Victorian preoccupation with mortality and remembrance. Each item is an intimate expression of attachment and becomes what Anne Louise Luthi has described as 'more complicated than a basic desire for self-adornment'. (Luthi, 1998, p.4)1 Worn mostly during the latter stages of mourning, the jewellery also reminds us of the high mortality rates, particularly amongst children, experienced during the Victorian period.

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The gilt locket on the bracelet shown in the first frame contains an image of a young boy and a lock of hair.2 It was made between 1837-60 but little more is known or understood about the child. The consequent twelve images refer to the hours on a clock and the passage of time, taking us through a series of transitions away from the memory of the boy and the bracelet once worn to remember him. The magnifying glasses concentrate our view on various degrees of detail and remind us of larger natural structures. The second series of images bring us to the present and feature images of my own daughter’s hair. These images were generated by an electron microscope, taking us beyond the visible and revealing the depth of knowledge now attainable through modern technology. The final frame presents a contemporary equivalent to the original locket with the gold-plated sample of hair used to generate the micrographs and an equally precious lock of hair.

1 Luthi, A.L.: Sentimental Jewellery. Shire Publications Ltd (1998) p.4.

2 From the collection of Worthing Musuem, Hair and gilt bracelet. 1970/730 c.1837-6