BFA Project

My work explores the impermanence of life through dualities like attraction and repulsion, fragility and strength-not as something to fear, but as a guide, a muse, and an ever-present force that connects us all. I aim to challenge social narratives that traditionally link a person's value with possessions and status, offering instead a reminder of the weightlessness of these material possessions against the certainty of death.
Possessions decay, fortunes shift, and names fade. What remains is not what we accumulate, but how we live, how we love, and the impact we leave behind. The incorporation of taxidermy in this context is meant to push viewers to reflect on the inevitable nature of their own demise, provoking a feeling of unease and discomfort, forcing them to question where they hold value.
Beyond its function as memento mori, the taxidermy animal itself holds a history-one of life, death, and human intervention. The goose, once a living creature, was hunted, its body claimed, and now reconfigured into something new. To ignore the violence of its death would be to overlook the weight of mortality itself. Instead, by preserving and repurposing its remains, I aim to acknowledge its passing, honoring both its life and the circumstances of its death.
Constructing the organs of the goose to serve as wearables, I hope to pay homage to the 16th-17th century era of Victorian jewelry, adopting a lens of memento mori, which translates to "remember you must die." Jewelry during this time was known for its iconography of death, utilizing symbols such as skulls, skeletons, and coffins, made to remind the wearer of their own mortality. The jewelry that lies within the body of the goose is meant to serve a similar purpose while creating a more visceral reaction in contrast to traditional symbols.