I am a New York-based artist painting with oils on a variety of surfaces including canvas, wood and silk. I enjoy the fluidity and freedom that oils provide in sculpting shapes and objects. I paint primarily figuratively, studying skin, flesh and bones. My current series, “To the Bone”, stems from the concept of ‘memento mori’. I am shifting the emphasis of ‘memento mori’ to one that is celebrating life from the vantage point of death, representing life both before and after death.  

The series is a collection of still-life paintings of bones that render the skeletons in colour. It explores feelings of life and celebration in order to over-power the eeriness and sadness of death. I use vibrant colours to emphasise this idea of celebration of the life motored by these bones rather than the sadness that follows death.

A skeleton is an appropriate representation as it is the last part to remain of a human being once they pass. It is also the core structural frame of the body that allows us to move and live, yet it is so unappreciated as we never see it. Although of course the tragedy and sadness of death are inevitable, still I want to celebrate the years one lives and emphasise the value of life. Intertwining death and celebration opens a conversation of how life is treated and respected after death.