One of the top comments on a new video from the Victoria and Albert Museum reads as follows: “I think it is time to have a renaissance of mourning. In this age of sanitized and hidden grief, it would be a welcomed relief for a more refined mourning experience.”
This commenter is responding to two V&A curators unboxing a collection of 19th-century objects common in Victorian mourning traditions. Through a variety of garments, ephemera, and photos, the pair showcases the elaborate rituals and rites people once used to honor the dead.
The video highlights a black, silk gown with tiny pleats, delicate lace, and sequins, along with jewelry made from semi-precious jet stones, and brooches containing human hair. The curators also present several printed artifacts, like mourning cards and portraits of the dying.
What becomes clear throughout the video is how much our contemporary culture of grief and loss has turned inward and is something managed privately rather than shared with a community. “Mourning objects can be personal, portable, ostentatious, sentimental, or even a little bit grizzly,” the curators add. “Is it too much? Or do you think we should mourn the passing of these poignant and fascinating trappings of grief?”
Find the unboxing on YouTube, along with several additional adventures in the museum’s collections.
