Just Like him.

Blown away series 3 episode 1

Photo Credit: Blown Away Series and Marble Media Official.

The challenge was to illustrate an evolutionary moment in our lives as individuals an artists. This was the first challenge of the series, it was quite intimidating! Deborah Czerekso, Season 1 winner and amazing artist, joined the crew as the guest judge!

I made this piece as a memento mori referring to the death of my father - even though I am very removed from the memory - it still sat with me throughout my life. Until I turned 38, I was afraid I would also pass at that age - hence the title.⁠
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For those who don't know memento mori is an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. In this piece, the deflated basketball was a symbol for my father's heart - he loved basketball and the deflated version is a lifeless version of something otherwise functional. The candle on the candlestick is burned all the way down - the colors and form of the stick reference coca-cola - as i have memories of him drinking coke by the two liter. The puddle and drops represent the night he died - I remember running through the rain to get help from the neighbors, The flowers are meant to be white lilies - there are 3 flowers one with 10 petals representing me (I was ten) and 2 with 6 petals representing my siblings (they were 6) - in total there are 38 petals around the piece representing the age of his death. ⁠
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It was certainly a transformative moment in my life that I rarely talked about - but decided to share with millions of incredibly supportive people and random couch critics. It may look like a mismatched pile of objects, but that is the point of the Memento Mori - I truly appreciate Deborah and her feedback on this piece. ⁠