Mrs Bartley's Hats

The work, Mrs Bartley's Hats, features photographic images of 11 hats. These form part of the show, Semblance of Order, which was shown at Rugby Museum and Art Gallery in July 2022. Like a lot of Jamaican women of her generation my mother-in-law, Mrs Bartley, wore hats. Not just hats but, what she called, Big Woman hats. Hats to signify optimism and gaiety, gravitas and solemnity; Hats confirming family status and her standing as an elder in the community. She was 93 when she died in 2020. After her death, the hats were collected together, boxed and stored. An archive of objects and memories from a long life.