Velo de Luto (Mourning Veil)

Dimensions: 32"x47"x2"

Material: 1,365 Magicicada wings and hair
Veil made of 1,365 seventeen year cicada wings sewn together by the hair of two generations of women who have struggled in a patriarchal society. As the veils were traditionally used to blindly show faith, while being exposed to toxic dyes before one’s eyes, the creation of this veil via joining of wings serves as a metaphor for decay of life—both literally through the wings of the magicicada but as representative of a traditional mourning veil to be worn by women for life after the death of a spouse, as the fragility of the veil of wings decay so does the patriarchal veil of history that it represents. By empowering and highlighting the beauty of the fragility, the unified wings empower the viewer to have faith in the rebirth & re- ownership.

Photo: Robert Chase Heishman