Obituary
2021
The concept of Obituary was to focus on the deaths of these creatures I found on walks and collate them into a hand -bound book, with a hand-made burial coffin to act as a Celtic burial tomb, with dedications and objects to celebrate them as kings and queens of the sea – much like the burial sites we find in archaeological digs.
This piece acts as a respectful ode to the sea – an obituary. Looking at themes of death, sitting quietly while the deaths were announced on the radio once a week, and newspaper obituaries for lives now departed from our world. Death is apart of our world as much as we may deny it – this has been more apparent than ever in mainstream existent and lives this year, with many people becoming aware of their own mortality, and the mortality of their loved ones.
Death is also apart of nature. The triquetra – birth, life, and death. Death is in religion. Death is in the seasons every year as a tree loses its leaves and flowers die – death is in the sea with its might, strength, and will. She claims as she wishes and is the giver and taker of life.
Obituary is a hand-bound stab-stich publication with bespoke illustrations of flotsam which washed up on the beaches of my home during the February storm of 2021. The book is bound in handmade Himalayan paper, and the cover text is hand-stamped in gold ink with metal letterpress tools.
The artbook is surrounded by found skulls, and 3D printed replica skulls. The coffin has been hand-made with an oak finish.
