Onweacnan, Awaken

Public mourning once played a large role in everyday life, exemplified by Queen Victoria and the culture she created and embraced following the death of Prince Albert. Now however, the discussion of grief is considered taboo to the extent that most avoid even acknowledging that human mortality exists and act as if death is catching, leaving those going through it to feel alone in their pain. In recent years however, the arrival of a global pandemic has changed that and has forced us all to live with a collective grief. We are currently being asked to accept death in a way that we never have before. Although I have been preoccupied with human mortality for as long as I can remember, it was my own personal experience with the unexpected loss of my father due to complications with chemo therapy, that initially inspired my work to turn toward fine art and the still life genre with a focus on grief. It is through this work, that I indulge my fixation, creating vanitas tableaux reflecting on death; a once normalized approach to the acknowledgment of mortality and the beauty of living. In carefully constructed still life photographs captured digitally and overflowing with hidden messages, iconography, and the expression of color, I search for connection to the dead and explore grief, reclaiming this genre and elevating the categorization of still life.