Lauren O. Concentration
Memento mori: a reminder that we all must die. Many avoid thinking about death, as they fear facing their own mortality. However, mortality is what ties all living beings together. Since we do not truly know what lies beyond death, countless ideas and religious beliefs exist around the globe speculating what it might be. Throughout my concentration, I focused on the question: how do we think about death while we are still alive? I explored various religions, cultures, and symbols through my art.
Religion is one of the strongest forces guiding beliefs about death. Through my concentration, I depicted a handful of common world religions including atheism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. For example, my 5th and 7th pieces deal with ideas shared by Hinduism and Buddhism; “Samsara” is a representation of the reincarnation cycle and “Nirvana” represents the end of reincarnation. Each of my religion-based pieces was meant to convey religious concepts without being heavy-handed.
Various cultural ideas, both modern and ancient, are represented through my concentration. Modern ideas include personification of death and the concept of mourning. Both of these concepts share similar traits in countries across the globe, especially America and European countries. Greek mythology, which was important in ancient Greek culture, is represented in my final concentration as the River Styx: the river between life and death.
My most discrete mortality pieces are the ones using symbolism. These pieces differ as they are not outright macabre. The sands of an hourglass represent the limited time in each of our lives. The ocean represents the fear of death, as it is vast and unknown. Poppies symbolize death because of their blood coloring and sedative properties. Symbolism is subjective, and allows for a variety of responses to art.
Religion is one of the strongest forces guiding beliefs about death. Through my concentration, I depicted a handful of common world religions including atheism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. For example, my 5th and 7th pieces deal with ideas shared by Hinduism and Buddhism; “Samsara” is a representation of the reincarnation cycle and “Nirvana” represents the end of reincarnation. Each of my religion-based pieces was meant to convey religious concepts without being heavy-handed.
Various cultural ideas, both modern and ancient, are represented through my concentration. Modern ideas include personification of death and the concept of mourning. Both of these concepts share similar traits in countries across the globe, especially America and European countries. Greek mythology, which was important in ancient Greek culture, is represented in my final concentration as the River Styx: the river between life and death.
My most discrete mortality pieces are the ones using symbolism. These pieces differ as they are not outright macabre. The sands of an hourglass represent the limited time in each of our lives. The ocean represents the fear of death, as it is vast and unknown. Poppies symbolize death because of their blood coloring and sedative properties. Symbolism is subjective, and allows for a variety of responses to art.
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This site is not sponsored by the Upper Arlington City School District. Furthermore, the views and opinions on
this web site are not necessarily those of the Upper Arlington City School District