MEMENTO MORI 2024

This piece was for an assignment in my oil painting class. The assignment was to create a memento mori painting. Memento mori paintings serve as a reminder of mortality, although not necessarily in a morbid way. These paintings speak to the beauty of life and the importance of savoring each moment. These paintings are typically still-life and include objects such as decaying food or flowers, an hour glass or clock, a melting candle, a partly read book or partly written letter, etc. To create our reference still-lifes, each student in my class brought in an object that signified time passing for them.

I chose my watch as my object. Firstly, a watch is a literal signifier of time passing. However, this watch has other personal meanings. My watch was a high school graduation gift from my parents, marking a milestone in my life, and representing that I am growing up. My watch also looks quite similar to my grandpa’s, which creates a sense of comfort and generational interconnectedness.

I began this task by taking a number of reference photos with different combinations of the objects that my peers brought in. I narrowed it down to my favorite, which included my watch, a leaf, a planter of a bust with plant remains inside, a rosary, and a rose.

This painting was done on an 18 x 24 inch canvas that I built and stretched myself using a sheet of canvas and stretcher bars.