Memento Mori

A memento mori is an artwork intended to prompt the viewer to reflect on their own mortality and the brief, delicate nature of human existence.

Memento Mori, translated as ‘Remember you must die’, serves as a reminder not to dwell in morbidity or fear, but rather to inspire, propel, and bring clarity. This concept has held significance in various fields such as art, philosophy, literature, architecture, and more throughout history.

In a basic memento mori painting, you might encounter a portrait featuring a skull, while other symbols often included are hourglasses or clocks, extinguished or dwindling candles, fruits, and flowers. The vanitas still life is closely related to the memento mori picture.

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Oranges

Nikki Maloof injects vibrating visual patterns into her charming yet macabre domestic scene, Oranges. The artist has a tongue in cheek approach to memento mori – a traditional motif in still life that symbolises mortality.The original large scale artwork has been reprised as a multi layered print. Each unique edition is finished with hand collaged fish, gouache and coloured pencil to blend her collaging language with the print."I never go overboard on being precise. I think it's what makes my form of patterning feel like my own."

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Parra's studio, with Parra at the centre, his back to the camera as he works on the large painting takes centre stage, showing a faceless blue woman in a striped dress, painted in red, purple, blue and teal. The studio is full of brightly coloured paints, with a large window on the right and a patterned rug across the floor under the painting.