A Deadly Beauty
This body of this work is based upon the recent passing of my late Uncle Gary. My uncle was a very important person in my life, and responsible for igniting my fascination for the macabre. When I mentioned my Uncle’s passing to people outside of my family I noticed a level of unease. It seems that people tend to shun away from the subject of death and it is this ‘shunning’ of death that I am addressing with this work.
Death, in our society is a taboo subject, it is something that should not be discussed or seen. This taboo is what I wish to address with the context of my work. Through my work I strive to make the audience question death and to make them see how death is quite clearly a part of the ‘living world’. I wish for audiences’ to see the beauty within death, through manipulated bones as body adornments, skeletal patterns for the wall and a porcelain bone chandelier.
The application of gold leaf onto real bone jewellery pieces, is to highlight the contrast between death and beauty. Death is depicted through the authenticity of the bone whilst beauty is stereotypically associated with gold. The decision to create ceramic pieces from porcelain was due to the ethereal quality of porcelain, its likeness to that of real bone and its high value and status as a material.
I dedicate this work to both my beloved late Uncle Gary and Nana.
