Memento Mori, ongoing curatorial project and exhibition

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We live in a death-denying culture, but while the western philosophy around death has been buried into social obscurity, the prevalence of serious contemporary artwork about death has been expanding. "Memento mori" is a Latin phrase which translates to “remember you must die", and has served historically as a sentiment which affirms that facing the certainty of death has the perhaps unexpected effect of embracing life.

 

This biennial exhibition was conceived in conjunction with personal creative research and my development of the Death and Photography class for the online Digital Photography Program. In the class, the theme of death is further categorized into these subtopics: Looking at Death (Voyeurism and the Body), Death as Loss (Memory and Mourning), Death and Nature (Time, Control, Ecology and Gender), Symbolic Death (Allegory and Identity), Death as Absence (The  Invisible and Spiritism), and After Death (Legacy, Technology and Rebirth). The pieces in the show are chosen in relationship to these same topics featuring photography based artworks from ASU art faculty, students and alumni, as well as guest artists; each approaching the theme of death in their own unique way, spanning from literal to metaphorical, from deeply personal to abstract cultural interpretations.

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