I have been doing much reflection on Olivia’s 11 months of mourning and her purpose and rituals in mourning. This image speaks to me more than most I found. The image is of a “Widow caked with river mud on her head, face and body, which is traditionally a sign of mourning for her husband. She wears a necklace of the seeds of the grass Job's Tears (Coix lacrima jobi) sometimes for many years. Southern Highlands, near Mendi, Papua New Guinea.”
What strikes me out about this woman in mourning and this particular tribal ritual is how solitary it feels: there are people around but this woman stands out so decidedly due to her attire and caked on white clay make up – as if to prove that no one could possibly feel the loss for the person she is mourning as deeply as she does. This is how I think Olivia behaves, and although she is always surrounded by people (Maria etc.) she is completely alone, by choice. Only Feste can pull her out of this.
What I also think is interesting about this image, is the symmetry between some of the more made – up images that we have of queen Elizabeth, with her white make up and elaborate confining costumes – and this woman from a totally different culture and continent.
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