The Art of Concealment

Women were employed during WWII to make nets into camouflage cloth used to conceal military installations from plane detection. The art of concealment was in the quality of the 'garnish'; the addition of fabric rags, garments and leaf-like shapes. Florence(Lesley's grandmother) concealed her grief and PTSD symptoms with the garnish of domesticity within her home. An 'honour cloth' was often painted behind depictions of the Virgin Mary and her child. It was a recognition of the importance of the mother/child relationship. There are also powerful images throughout art history of the grieving mother who has lost a child. Wars cause many mothers a lifelong grief they are often expected to disguise, cover, keep private and conceal.