ARPS Panel

Panel awarded the Royal Photographic Society ARPS Distinction (Visual Arts Category)


STATEMENT SENT WITH THE PANEL

Memento mori

Art exploring death, memento mori – Latin for ‘remember death’, was once common, reaching its zenith in 17th-century vanitas paintings, and used clocks, snuffed candles, cast-off objects, views through windows, fading light and other metaphors and symbols of the past, the future, and life’s impermanence. But today, art depicting mortality makes us uncomfortable: death has become taboo – avoided, and spoken of in euphemisms.

This panel is my interpretation of memento mori. Despite appearances, the photographs are about life, not death. They reflect our lives, mirror-like, back at us: Who am I? Where am I going? What have I done? They remind us that nothing is forever, especially not us, so we should let go of the past, seize opportunities and embrace life. This is in contrast to the original meaning of memento mori with its religious undertones: that life is transient, and pleasure, futile; so, be pious and repent.