Bonemeal and Tissue Paper

By Kate Myers

Follow Kate on Instagram @katemyyers.art

a note from the artist-

The changing of the seasons, especially fall to winter, often make me wonder about death and the end of things. Though usually seen as dark and depressing, this piece aims to portray death in a different light. The personified death figure is still partly covered in tissue and muscle, with a leaf garland adorning its head- symbolizIng the sometimes overlooked life-giving component of death. For example, feeding other organisms with decomposition. The scavenger birds above the figure are the other life forms that death has helped sustained. The figure holds up three fingers, a reference to the three stages of existing: birth, life, and death. Also, this numerical reference could be traced back to number three as a religious signifier,  as three is an important number in several religions. Death is an extremely important and heavily discussed component in religion. The halo around the skeleton’s head is another religious reference- instead of seeing death as an event or a tragedy, acknowledging it as perhaps its own entity or even god-like figure. The red robe also adds to the perceived authority the character has. Death does not have to be, nor is it, scary and depressing. Death is a natural cycle in the continuation of life, and this is especially visible in the changing of the seasons.