A project about death established in my third year at Gray's School of Art, and it continues today.
In this project, I hope to dismantle the Western World's fear of death, by exploring other cultures' rituals and spirituality. In this work, reverence towards animals is a large part of it - honouring their lives and deaths, and giving them the respect that they deserve.
In this project, I hope to dismantle the Western World's fear of death, by exploring other cultures' rituals and spirituality. In this work, reverence towards animals is a large part of it - honouring their lives and deaths, and giving them the respect that they deserve.
The processes I use to create the work itself are ritualistic in nature, because of their repetition and the time I have to devote to them, which I believe makes my work extra special and honourable to the deceased.
I am speaking for those deceased;
For those forgotten,
For those remembered,
For those who were not respected -
For the voiceless creatures.
Big and small.
I treat them as we would a human –
With kindness, honour, and love.
I have learned that rituals help us to connect with the dead.
They help us cope with grief and our own fear.
Involving ourselves in the ritual of helping our dead rest,
Allows us to live on and be at peace.
We can learn from the dead as many cultures believe,
Such as the Ñatitas of Bolivia.
Found in dreams,
Giving them a new name,
And going to them for guidance,
From finance to love.
Approaching the subject of death is like approaching a deer,
Be gentle and go around it,
Not straight on,
Do not rip that Band-Aid off.
Death or XIII (according to tarot cards)
Is nothing to fear.
It is a part of life.
An End to a cycle,
A new beginning – maybe -
A metamorphosis.
Ruysch was an artist of death,
but also of celebrated the brevity of life.
Orozco finds bones and adds patterns –
giving them a sense of meaning and power!
They both agree that
Death shouldn’t be feared.
Neither should we fear a crow or a raven
They are wise gentle souls
Who only got the colloquial names of
a “murder”,
and an “unkindness”,
because they were hungry
and saw the fresh meat of dead bodies.
For that one choice,
They are condemned to this sinister macabre fate.
Maybe I will see the same fate one day for my choice.
Will I be seen as a Grim Reaper of sorts?