Memento Mori Collaborative Project

I was keen to participate in the Memento Mori project so that I could work with someone who uses visual language in a different way to me. The use of metaphors is something I aim to pursue in my practice and I thought that working with a graphic design student would provide me with some new strategies for developing visual associations. It was evident almost immediately how graphic design involves a different process and way of working to fine art; it seems very focused on the end result, conveying a clear message and learning strategies of how to achieve this.

I think the topic of death is relevant to my own work in many ways because of my interest in the natural world, in life and the inevitability of death that shows itself through aging and decomposition. Recently I think I have moved on to looking at life more than death, but still retain a great interest in the aesthetic of decay, observing how structures corrode and order breaks down. I thought that investigating objects symbolic of death would also further my current focus on the poetics and established associations of materials. In some ways, death seems like a relatively easy theme to represent because it is such a powerful, distinctive thing which has a pre-established visual language (e.g. skulls, bones, dark colours, gravestones, the grim reaper...). On the other hand, it is a very hard and complex topic to work with and comprehend; art itself is used very often to come to terms with the idea of death because it is something that is hard to talk about.

The focus on the 'memento mori', 'remember that you are mortal' appealed to me because it points to the transience and fleeting nature of life. In my work I aim to encourage people to acknowledge things in the environment, to observe aspects of our world that are overlooked or taken for granted; this links to the idea of appreciating life, making the most of it and remembering the fragility of our current circumstances. My work is perhaps the 'memento mori' of sight, blindness being a kind of death. I am very conscious that we should value our eyes and our sight, and see the aesthetic beauty in everyday encounters. Although I tend to focus on sight, it is the same for every aspect of our lives, appreciating the value of things is important whilst they are there.

It was really interesting to have a discussion with people about the subject as I enjoy having new things to think about and questioning my opinions. I also learnt a few things I didn't know about how death was thought of in the past: Victorian post-mortem photographs, the Russian's belief in imminent immortality, the worry that society's belief in an afterlife would inhibit scientific progress... There are many, many fascinating ideas consider around the subject, it will be really interesting to see what people choose to focus on.