Pushing Daisies

Description

Pushing Daisies

LOST & FOUND SERIES ARTIST STATEMENT

“From the corpses flowers grow” — Antony and the Johnsons, 2000

I started making art with dead creatures because of my cats. They’d bring me presents that I obviously wouldn’t eat, so I sought for another way to respect my cats’ nature and appreciate their gifts; I’d hold tiny funerals, dress up the creatures in flowers and photograph their wakes to capture, remember and honour the life that was given, before burying them in the garden.

The Taoist idea of how beauty and new life springs from death also took root in my drypoint prints and eventually gave birth to my “mourning ornaments”.

The ceramic artwork is finished by its user adding life into the vase. The flower arrangement changes the (de)composition all the time. Those who engage with it can use the activity to create their own custom ritual with. To fe. spend some time contemplating those they have lost and the cycle of life.