It is now a year since the sudden passing of Hilary Mantel on 22 September 2022. I still cannot believe that this is true.
In the days following her death, I thought of memorials, mourning, and grief; I wondered how her characters – so alive on the page – might pay tribute. I thought of weeper tombs – those elaborate memorials that include kneeling mourners paying silent tribute to the departed. And I stitched a series of weepers, who do not pray, but who each hold a copy of a book from Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy; with precisely written and now carefully chosen words about each of them unrolling from the pages.
The Weepers: A tribute to Dame Hilary Mantel, 6 July 1952-22 September 2022.
All photographs © Michael Wicks
At the same time, it seems as though it was yesterday, but also, much more than a year ago.
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