Arm (C)hair

Commissioned by Staffordshire University Archaeology Department for the Finding Treblinka exhibition at The Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom at Treblinka, Poland in August 2015.

Digitally printed fabric on cotton canvas upholstered onto refurbished 1940s European armchair, 80cm x 80cm x 80cm.

The pattern was developed from hair combs left at the site by victims which was found in archaeological research by Dr Caroline Sturdy-Colls. Upholstered onto an original chair, many of the victims hair was used for furniture, mattresses and textiles. The chair was subsequently exhibited at the Wiener Holocaust Library, London, when the exhibition toured there in 2016.

Read more about the exhibition on the Centre for Archaeology’s blog here

Dr Sturdy-Coll’s and Michael Branthwaite co-authored a paper on the project, This is Proof? Forensic Evidence and Ambiguous Material Culture at Treblinka Extermination Camp available to read here