LYNN PAIK

original sin, biblical iconography, traditional crafts and domestic activities often associated with the feminine
female expression, acceptance, and freedom

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Willowing feathers is a tedious hand process whereby inferior quality ostrich plumes are lengthened and thickened by hand knotting individual flues together. In the early part of the 20th century, this task was most often completed by young women and girls toiling away in the NY millinery plumage sweatshops. These individuals were often prone to contracting tuberculosis from the extreme dust of the workplace.

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"How doth the manufacturer

Improve the ostrich tail?

By willowing the scraggy ends

Until they’re fit for sale.

How cheerfully he sits and smiles

Throughout the livelong day,

While children knot the tiny flues

And make the plumes that pay."

– Sorrowful Rhymes of Working Children 1911