The theme that represents this work is one that every organism on this planet faces.
We all face it in our own ways and each of us gets to have a unique relationship with it, but we can never escape it. I chose to bring it in close, ponder, research, and sometimes even daydream about all the possibilities of this great mystery. This piece represents a part of my own relationship with death herself. By exploring the semiotics associated with death, icon, index and symbol are conveyed using a grave, an angel, and the idea of reincarnation or an afterlife. I used oil pastels, magazines, books, foam board, mod podge, brown paper, and obituaries collected from the Villages, FL.
The left panel of the triptych is a 3-D grave that depicts death as an icon. Tombstones are a universal way of representing not only a final resting place, but a marker of a life that has been lived. The way someone is honored may differ, but we all return to the ground in the end.
The center oil pastel painting portrays an angel of death. She plays the role of index due to her longstanding place in death culture. Across religions and time, angels have been seen as divine messengers and keepers of souls. Their protection and guidance is especially known during times of death.
The right-hand side of the triptych peers into the idea of an afterlife and reincarnation. While the two are not related by a religion, they are united by the theme. One of the most heavily debated subjects in the history of man relates to the question: what happens after we die? The great mystery that has no answers is shown by a series of people coming out of other people. This symbol of death cannot exist without the creation of life and women. I chose to picture a woman breast feeding a child, layered with another woman and a golden man to show that while death and life may hold mysteries, we know a central truth, life comes from a woman. They are the only creators we have ever known.
The background is what connects all three pieces and makes them a cohesive whole. I collected obituaries from a 55+ community and stitched them all together to show meaning and insignificance. To many people, the obituaries are just a page in a paper that may never be seen. When I was cutting them all out, I took time to read them and take in the the stories of each life. Daughters, Sons, Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Pets... Lives. They matter. The overlay of living humans on top of the obituaries reminds us that our day in the paper will come. What will your relationship to it be?
