The Rapunzel diaries

Some newspaper stories beggar belief. A report in 1872 claiming that 79-year-old Margaret Platt cut off her daughter Urusla's 78-foot-long plait might qualify as one. However, French photographer Delphine Balley was struck by this curious tale of familial tyranny and staged a series of mises en scene to illustrate it. 11, Henrietta Street is the beautifully distressed townhouse in which the Miss Havisham-esque Margaret, Ursula et al play their parts in this gothic drama, with the rope-like plait repeatedly making an ominous appearance. Both family portraiture and sensationalist news feature, Balley's series is a blend of fantasy and reality, as peculiar and as poignant as the story itself.
Holly Kyte