To the Religion I Know...
Format
Senior Art and Design Exhibition
Faculty Mentor Name
Jennifer Little
Faculty Mentor Department
Studio Art Department
Additional Faculty Mentor Name
Michael Leonard
Abstract/Artist Statement
This is my senior series that contains memento mori still life oil paintings. These paintings depict different emotions and feelings towards death in respect to religion. The subject is about the struggles I face whenever a loved one in my life suddenly passes away. That specific struggle being my thoughts towards Catholicism and how religion is supposed to comfort me in my time of need, but instead it makes me resent my religion and question my practices.
My father passed away when I was 7, and my baby brother’s father passed away just a couple of months ago. Each passed in a car accident that occurred due to the other driver. This series represents the way I question my religion and even sometimes resent religion because I cannot believe these tragedies have happened to my family more than once. It also represents the thoughts and feelings that I don’t have the courage to tell my family because when someone passes, their coping mechanism and way to heal is through religion and going to church.
In researching the history of memento mori paintings, I liked the idea of creating something with hidden symbols and meanings. Also, memento mori’s developed in the late 16th century, a time where religion was very prominent and highly regarded. They were utilized to portray the idea of a reminder of death, and they showed different religious symbols within them. My thought process from this was to create still life paintings similar but with the twist of depicting religion in a different light. I wanted to show the struggles that I face when looking to religion to help me and how death can make others question religion too.
Location
Virtual
Start Date
25-4-2020 10:00 AM
End Date
25-4-2020 12:00 PM
To the Religion I Know...
Virtual
This is my senior series that contains memento mori still life oil paintings. These paintings depict different emotions and feelings towards death in respect to religion. The subject is about the struggles I face whenever a loved one in my life suddenly passes away. That specific struggle being my thoughts towards Catholicism and how religion is supposed to comfort me in my time of need, but instead it makes me resent my religion and question my practices.
My father passed away when I was 7, and my baby brother’s father passed away just a couple of months ago. Each passed in a car accident that occurred due to the other driver. This series represents the way I question my religion and even sometimes resent religion because I cannot believe these tragedies have happened to my family more than once. It also represents the thoughts and feelings that I don’t have the courage to tell my family because when someone passes, their coping mechanism and way to heal is through religion and going to church.
In researching the history of memento mori paintings, I liked the idea of creating something with hidden symbols and meanings. Also, memento mori’s developed in the late 16th century, a time where religion was very prominent and highly regarded. They were utilized to portray the idea of a reminder of death, and they showed different religious symbols within them. My thought process from this was to create still life paintings similar but with the twist of depicting religion in a different light. I wanted to show the struggles that I face when looking to religion to help me and how death can make others question religion too.