"Memento Mori" September 2012 The materials used to create this project were sketch book paper, compressed charcoal, vine charcoal, white chalk, rubber easer, white acrylic paint, and a Nikon D3000. The concept is the creation of a skull with a little personality, who smokes a cigarette down to the bud which then catches on fire. The entire skull in then engulfed in flames and begins to melt. The white melted goop from the skull then takes over the page. Leaving you with a white piece of paper so it can loop again and again. The piece was inspired by memento mori paintings which in Latin means, "remember your mortality." It now refers to a genre of paintings which help people to reflect on their life, reminding them that they will eventually die. Most commonly memento mori paintings have a skull or skeleton depicted in some way. For example, a saint reflecting on a skull was an accepted memento mori in the 1600's. I have always found this topic of reflecting on your life and evaluating your decisions interesting. Also the anatomy and connotation of a skull has always been fascinating to me. I chose to use charcoal because the contrast of the values which you can achieve has always made charcoal one of my favorite mediums to work with. As well as I love its forgiving, flexible, and movable nature which was perfect to make this project come to life.
