“Remember you will die”
Like a broken record, the Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastics repeats the phrase “under the sun” over and over as he contemplates the human condition. His earthly perspective and questions and experiential basis for answering predates and anticipates the Greek philosophical tradition by almost 500 years. Here is a man seeking to understand life below a heavenly perspective and seek what is the best way we should live…and the answer is in recognition that we will die.
Rich, poor, wise, foolish, sinner and saint, we will all die.
Just as in Plato’s dialogues, where Socrates stated that philosophy is about preparing to die, learning how to live in light of our own mortality, the Preacher calls us to consider how we should live.
However in the midst of this grim perspective, in the context of God’s wisdom we see what our great blessing is during all the days of our lives. Ecc 9:7-9 stands out to me, “Eat..with happiness, drink…with a cheerful heart. God has already approved your works…Enjoy life with the woman you love all the days of your fleeting life…”
Influenced by Biblical texts such as the Book of Ecclesiastes and historical events such as the Black Plague and the 100 Years War, the people of late medival Europe were constantly facing death and remined to be prepared for it.
As with my exploration of other elements of the art of dying, this piece doesn’t offer a solution or even suggest morality is the key. Of course it doesn’t also suggest a childish “seize the day” impulse in the face the our own mortality. I simply hoped to create pieces that would remind us that we are in fact mortal, we will die, as I think we are prone to forget or deny that ugly, lonely truth.
I started this piece in August, after finishing the Memento Mori devotion cover, and it draws on much of the same imagery and symbolism. It was also began just as I started to look into the Art of Dying and Dance Macabre movements in Europe. It is mostly how I envisioned it but I considered many directions along the way and ultimately I am not as satisfied with it as I would have been had I finished it in September. Having created a few other pieces that I have learned from and been stretched by, this piece feels very direct, making an obvious statement, at least it feels that way to me, and because of that it isn’t as engaging to me, but I thought I would share in honesty rather than hide it away.
