All Her Glory
All Her Glory is a hand stitched, cloth calendar that documents my medical hair loss over an entire year, from 6 October 2019 to 5 October 2020.
Each day is represented by a 7cm square of Aida with an embroidered border, date, coloured codes that correspond to diary entries and, where relevant, a hair ball. These were then applied to canvas panels and blanket stitched into a candlewick bedspread. Also included is an embroidered poem (self composed) and a key, to describe the coloured codes.
The project began, not as an art work, but in response to increased hair loss due to a particular cancer drug. I decided to carry out an experiment to determine if my hair loss was going to get worse, stabilise or improve. As well as saving my shed hair every morning and rolling it into tight balls that I then stuck to dated cards, I was using numerous hair products that promised to reverse this loss, add volume and/or effect regrowth. However, the products were applied chaotically and without any form of scientific control, so the experiment was pointless and the daily collection of hairballs simply became an obsessive and ritualistic behaviour - echoed in the process of making the work.
Photography by Jack G Phillips
