Memento mori
Mexican amber, freshwater pearl, my own hair, oxidized sterling silver, 2023. Exhibited in Bring on the Gems at SNAG x Tuscon in 2023.
When I was a teenager, I stood in front of Odilon Redon's winged heads at the Art Institute of Chicago and felt something shift. My father saw my excitement and bought me the exhibition catalog. I have returned to those images for decades.
This pendant is built from things I have carried.
The focal point is Mexican amber, carved into a coffin-like shape. I brought the material home from Chiapas, where I studied amber carving alongside traditional artists of the craft. Backing it, visible through the amber as if embedded, is a lock of my own hair — saved during college, as part of a narrative photography course that asked me to reckon with my own body and history. I kept it without knowing why, until now.
The winged figure references Redon. The pearl skull I carved myself, having never done it before — learning the task because the piece required it, as evidence of a life of perpetual study.
Memento mori means remember death. On the occasion of turning 50, I made this to remember a life in progress.
The brooch is a companion piece in the form of a craft sampler, deliberately left incomplete. Where the pendant is personal and singular, the brooch is meant to be worn by anyone. One says remember death. The other says I am still learning.