The Bergiles
MBS-A-002-F-001-S-001 : Familial funeral attire — garment studiesBetween November 2025 and July 2026
Developed within The Bergiles archival fund, this body of work brings together funerary accompaniment garments created for members of the Bergile family who were never given funerary rites. The corpus includes counter-ball gowns, bodies under protective covers awaiting reincarnation, funerary garments, and other textile constructions exploring the relationships between memory, ritual, preservation and transmission. Preserved in archival garment covers, these pieces are regarded as archival documents as much as ritual objects, contributing to an ongoing investigation into contemporary forms of mourning, repair and survival.
Developed within The Bergiles archival fund, this body of work brings together funerary accompaniment garments created for members of the Bergile family who were never given funerary rites. The corpus includes counter-ball gowns, bodies under protective covers awaiting reincarnation, funerary garments, and other textile constructions exploring the relationships between memory, ritual, preservation and transmission. Preserved in archival garment covers, these pieces are regarded as archival documents as much as ritual objects, contributing to an ongoing investigation into contemporary forms of mourning, repair and survival.
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MBS-A-002-F-001-S-001
MBS-A-002-F-001-S-001
Study No. 001 : Equestrian Funerary Tailcoat
Familial funeral attire — garment studies - Between November 2025 and July 2026Definition
Working Drawing No. 001 designates the earliest architectural drawings documenting the conception of a series of reliquary tombs developed within The Bergiles archival fund. Produced during the initial phase of research, these drawings establish the spatial, structural and symbolic principles of funerary structures imagined for family members whose burial places were never established or were permanently lost following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Rather than functioning as technical blueprints alone, the drawings operate as archival records of thought. They preserve the moment at which architectural speculation becomes a documentary act, recording decisions, revisions and hypotheses before construction occurs. Each sheet constitutes an autonomous archival unit while simultaneously contributing to a wider investigation into mourning, absence, memorial architecture and the reconstruction of interrupted family histories.Conservation Protocol
The drawings are preserved as active working documents rather than fixed architectural plans. Original annotations, corrections, measurements and subsequent revisions remain intentionally visible as evidence of an evolving research process. Conservation therefore prioritises documentary integrity over visual completion, maintaining each drawing in the state in which successive stages of investigation have accumulated. Handling is limited to documented consultation sessions. Any new annotation, correction or architectural modification is incorporated into the archival record, allowing the drawings to continue functioning simultaneously as research material, design instrument and historical document.Research Protocol
The series investigates how architectural drawing may function simultaneously as a speculative design practice and an archival methodology. Rather than anticipating a future building alone, each drawing examines how space can preserve memory in the absence of an existing burial site. Architectural references, Haitian funerary traditions, European reliquary forms, archaeological documentation, family testimonies and material studies progressively inform the evolution of each plan. New discoveries frequently generate revisions, additional drawings or alternative spatial propositions. The protocol therefore documents the continuous transformation of the project rather than the production of a definitive architectural solution.Development Status
Research and architectural development remain ongoing. Current investigations include structural studies, scale models, material testing, conservation strategies and the integration of genealogical documentation into the spatial design of the reliquary tomb series. Future stages may introduce additional architectural drawings, sectional studies, construction prototypes and performative adaptations. The series is conceived as an open architectural archive in which every drawing remains subject to revision. Rather than concluding with a final design, the documentary corpus continues to evolve as new historical evidence, family narratives and spatial research emerge, allowing the architecture itself to become a living component of The Bergiles archival fund. Working Drawing No. 001 designates the earliest architectural drawings documenting the conception of a series of reliquary tombs developed within The Bergiles archival fund. Produced during the initial phase of research, these drawings establish the spatial, structural and symbolic principles of funerary structures imagined for family members whose burial places were never established or were permanently lost following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Rather than functioning as technical blueprints alone, the drawings operate as archival records of thought. They preserve the moment at which architectural speculation becomes a documentary act, recording decisions, revisions and hypotheses before construction occurs. Each sheet constitutes an autonomous archival unit while simultaneously contributing to a wider investigation into mourning, absence, memorial architecture and the reconstruction of interrupted family histories.
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MBS-A-002-F-001-S-001
Study No. 002 : Tailcot for Baron Samedi
Familial funeral attire — garment studies - Between November 2025 and July 2026
Definition
Study No. 002 designates the second garment developed within the Familial Funeral Attire series and forms part of an ongoing investigation into funerary dress as an archival practice. Conceived in dialogue with the ceremonial attire traditionally associated with Baron Samedi, the garment examines how ritual clothing may function simultaneously as a symbolic presence, a historical document and a contemporary textile construction.While its silhouette recalls the nineteenth-century European tailcoat, the study deliberately shifts its cultural framework. Rather than reproducing historical costume, it investigates the movement of forms between European tailoring traditions and Haitian Vodou cosmology. Within this context, clothing is understood not simply as dress, but as a material interface through which identity, death, ritual authority and spiritual mediation become visible. Preserved as an archival garment study, the work documents a stage of research in which textile construction becomes a method of historical inquiry. It records how tailoring, ritual symbolism and family memory may converge within a single archival object while remaining open to future reinterpretation and continued investigation.
Conservation Protocol
The garment is preserved according to museum-grade textile conservation standards and maintained in stable storage conditions to ensure both material and documentary integrity. Handling is limited to documented research sessions, conservation reviews and authorised performative activations. Visible traces of construction, pattern adjustments, unfinished details and material experiments are retained as essential components of the archival record rather than corrected or concealed. Associated working patterns, fitting documentation, photographic records and written annotations accompany the garment as integral parts of the conservation file. Together they preserve not only the object itself but also the history of its making.Historical Context
The study investigates the historical dialogue between nineteenth-century European ceremonial tailoring and the ritual iconography associated with Baron Samedi, one of the principal lwa connected to death, cemeteries and the threshold between the living and the dead within Haitian Vodou. Rather than presenting these traditions as opposites, the garment examines their unexpected points of convergence through questions of authority, ritual performance, bodily transformation and symbolic presence. The project does not attempt to reconstruct historical costume. Instead, it documents how inherited forms may be displaced, translated and reactivated within a contemporary archival framework.Research Protocol
Research combines historical costume analysis, archival documentation, textile construction, Haitian religious history, pattern development and material experimentation. Written sources, oral knowledge, historical imagery and tailoring techniques are considered equally significant forms of evidence within the investigation. Every modification introduced during the making of the garment is recorded and incorporated into its archival documentation. The study therefore evolves through successive observations rather than predetermined conclusions, allowing the garment to remain an active site of research whose meaning continues to develop alongside the wider archival fund.Development Status
Research remains ongoing. Future developments include expanded textile studies, comparative analyses with subsequent garments in the series, additional historical documentation, conservation reports and further investigations into the relationships between ritual dress, funerary architecture and archival preservation. As the Familial Funeral Attire series continues to grow, Study No. 002 functions as a central reference within the collection, informing later developments while remaining open to revision through new historical evidence, material discoveries and evolving research methodologies.
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MBS-A-002-F-001-S-001
Study No. 003 - Counter-Ball Gown
Familial funeral attire — garment studies - Between November 2025 and July 2026
The Counter-Ball Gown is a garment developed in opposition to the symbolic economy of the ballroom. Conceived for the artist’s great-grandmother, it reimagines ceremonial dress not as an instrument of appearance, but as a technology of disappearance. Inspired by the history of marronage, the work traces a line of flight away from the social order embodied by Cinderella. Here, the gown refuses visibility and instead becomes a structure for escape, survival and symbolic withdrawal. Preserved within The Bergiles archival fund, the garment is maintained as both an archival document and a funerary accompaniment.
Definition
Study No. 003 designates the third garment developed within the Familial Funeral Attire series. Conceived for the artist’s great-grandmother, the Counter-Ball Gown investigates the ceremonial dress not as an instrument of social display but as a structure of symbolic withdrawal. Developed within The Bergiles archival fund, the study reconsiders the historical ballroom gown through the absence of its defining volume, transforming the silhouette into an open architectural framework Rather than reproducing the visual language of nineteenth-century formal dress, the garment retains only its structural memory. The emptied crinoline no longer supports spectacle but preserves the trace of a body that is no longer present. Volume becomes absence, and architecture replaces ornament. In doing so, the work questions how clothing may continue to carry identity after the disappearance of the person for whom it was conceived. Preserved as both an archival garment study and a funerary accompaniment, the Counter-Ball Gown forms part of an ongoing investigation into mourning, family transmission, memory and the transformation of ceremonial dress into documentary structure.
Conservation Protocol
The garment is preserved under museum-grade textile conservation standards together with its structural components, construction records, pattern developments and photographic documentation. Particular attention is given to the stability of the crinoline framework, whose exposed architecture constitutes an essential element of the work rather than an unfinished stage of fabrication Material alterations, structural adjustments and conservation observations remain permanently documented within the archival record. Every intervention contributes to the evolving history of the garment without seeking to restore an imagined final state.Historical Context
The Counter-Ball Gown originates from an investigation into the social history of ceremonial dress and the symbolic construction of femininity. Developed for the artist’s great-grandmother, the work revisits the figure of Cinderella, not as a fairy tale but as a cultural model through which marriage, transformation and social recognition have long been imagined. Rather than reproducing the iconic ball gown, the study removes the very element through which Cinderella becomes visible. The crinoline survives as an empty architectural structure, while the body expected to inhabit it remains absent. Visibility is replaced by withdrawal; spectacle gives way to preservation Within The Bergiles archival fund, the garment becomes less a costume than a funerary architecture, questioning how family memory may persist once the narratives that traditionally celebrated appearance have disappeared.Research Protocol
Research combines historical costume analysis, crinoline construction, architectural drawing, textile experimentation and genealogical investigation. The study develops through successive prototypes in which structural balance, proportion and material behaviour are examined alongside questions of ritual symbolism and archival preservation Rather than pursuing a definitive garment, each iteration records a stage in an evolving research process. Drawings, construction tests, documentary photographs and written observations are preserved together, allowing the object to function simultaneously as a textile study, an architectural proposition and an archival document.
Development Status
Research remains ongoing. Current investigations focus on structural refinement, textile conservation, historical documentation and the relationship between ceremonial architecture and the absent body. Future developments may include additional crinoline studies, material experiments, documentary annotations and performative activations connected to the wider research of The Bergiles archival fund As the collection expands, the Counter-Ball Gown remains a key study within the series, establishing a methodology through which garments are no longer understood primarily as clothing but as spatial archives capable of preserving memory, ritual and familial histories through their very construction.
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MBS-A-002-F-001-S-001
Study No. 003 - Communion Garment
Familial funeral attire — garment studies - Between November 2025 and July 2026
Definition
Study No. 003 documents the development of a consecrated communion garment conceived within The Bergiles archival fund. The work originates from a family account describing a child placed at sea shortly after birth and therefore never able to receive the sacrament of First Communion. Rather than reconstructing a historical event, the garment establishes a symbolic rite through which an interrupted ceremony may be completed. Preserved as an archival object, it records the intersection of oral history, religious tradition and material reconstruction.Conservation Protocol
The garment is maintained under conservation-grade storage conditions and handled according to archival textile protocols. Its liturgical status is preserved through minimal intervention, while documentation accompanies every modification, exhibition or research activation. The attached postcard depicting Jean-Jacques Dessalines remains inseparable from the object and forms part of its archival identity.Historical Context
The study investigates the relationship between Catholic sacramental traditions and family memory within the Haitian diaspora. Rather than presenting communion as a completed religious event, the garment examines what remains when a ceremony could never take place. Through textile reconstruction, the work proposes a space where absence, mourning and symbolic reparation may coexist.Research Protocol
Research combines oral testimony, family narratives, archival references, religious iconography and textile experimentation. As new documentation emerges, the garment may be supplemented by additional annotations, correspondence, photographs or ritual material. The work therefore remains an evolving archival record rather than a fixed ceremonial costume.Development Status
Research remains ongoing. Future developments include expanded genealogical documentation, comparative studies of communion garments, conservation records, audio testimonies and additional material connected to the family’s oral history. The study continues to evolve as both an archival document and an active site of remembrance.
