Harriet and Plait
- Artist: Rose English
- Date: 1976
- Medium: 6 photographs, gelatin silver prints on paper
- Dimensions: support, each: 242 x 158 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is "Harriet and Plait" by Rose English. The piece consists of six gelatin silver photographs, black and white, arranged in two rows of three. You can see a naked woman—her sister Harriet—sitting at a table with a long plaited wig stretched behind her. In the first image she looks away from the camera; in the next, a pair of scissors appear. The sequence captures the scissors moving closer, snipping off the tip of the wig, and the final photograph shows the cut plait placed on a plate, forming a triangular shape that echoes a stylised pubic hair. The photos were taken in the dining room of English’s mother’s house in Herefordshire, in January 1976. This work is part of a broader practice where English moved from objects to events. The wig itself was intended for a performance that never took place, but it became a key element in several staged works. By photographing the staged scene, English turned an everyday domestic setting into a tableau that questions traditional art categories, gender, and sexuality.
See it in person
Harriet and Plait is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
