Art Show: Objects and Art of Death and Mourning

OF the roughly 75 items on display at the Suffolk County Historical Society in Riverhead, a menacing-looking object known as the Wickham ax has been especially fascinating to many visitors.


It is the murder weapon used to kill James and Frances Wickham, 19th-century farmers in Cutchogue, according to Kathryn M. Curran, the society’s director. The Wickhams were killed in 1854 by “a disgruntled farmhand,” she said.

The exhibition, “Death Becomes Her: Objects and Art of Death and Mourning,” through May 26, also includes locally sourced mourning jewelry, mourning costumes, weapons and a pair of tombstones.

As part of a metaphysical series to complement the exhibition, Dawn Joly, a medium from Nesconset, will lead a tour of the collection May 24 and also offer to “interpret” objects brought in by those in attendance. Members of the Metaphysical and Paranormal Investigations of New York will be on hand on May 17 to offer a lecture on their research into area hauntings.


If spring seems an unusual time for a death-related exhibition, well, it is, Ms. Curran conceded. The show was born of a desire to collaborate with the East End Arts Council of Riverhead, which has a show of around 40 death-themed artworks, “La Morte,” in its gallery through June 1.

“They bring us a whole new audience” that is not interested just in history, Ms. Curran said.

For “Death Becomes Her,” the group also brought the society 20 pieces of art selected by Jane Kirkwood, the gallery director, from among the roughly 260 submissions that were not picked by April Gornik, the guest jurist for “La Morte.”

The combination of the contemporary works and the historical objects at the historical society is a good match for the diversity of interests, Ms. Curran said.

“It’s a pretty varied group that’s coming,” she said. “We have fashion students who want to see the details on the Victorian clothing, people who are interested in jewelry, history scholars and people who are into contemporary art.

“It’s not only people who want to see something grim,” she said.

[nytimes.com]