Red Maids 

Red Maids explores the intersection between the demands and limitations of social class and cultural constructions of female desire in the 18th and 19th century. Jaynes combines objects from the decorative arts and rare books collections at the Rosenbach. Often humorous, the objects paired with excerpts of text alluded to new “fictions” suggestive of the British social mores of the period.

The installation Red Maids is designed to engulf the viewer in a sea of red. Suspended above is 288 square feet of crimson skirts. The view from below presents a canopy of tight interlocking folds. The effect is similar to standing beneath an enormous rose.

Red Maids was commissioned by the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia as part of “BANG! Contemporary Artists Collide with the Collections.”