MORTEM
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2018
As human beings, we have a strange relationship with both death and nature. Although all linked, we find the subject of death unsettling and our connection with nature is somewhat destructive.
Giving flowers at funerals is a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, throughout many cultures. They suggest rebirth after death, blooming in the Spring and wilting in Winter, only to be reborn again the following year. However, by following these traditions, we must first kill the flower. This serves as a subtle reminder of how short and cruel life is, however its beauty remains palpable, similar to that of a flower.
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Mortem is an ongoing series of still life photographs influenced by Dutch flower paintings and Vanitas artworks. I have been looking at time and the impermanence of life itself, which I am representing through the decaying funeral wreaths that I have photographed. Whilst death, loss and decay are melancholic events in most of our lives, there is also a strange beauty that lies within them that is often over looked. Through exploring our complex relationship with both death and nature, I have attempted to portray this delicacy with wreaths collected from Hillview Cemetery.