Memento Mori Artist Statement | Melissa T. Hall
Memento Mori, Latin for remember you will die, is the third series of work fueled by my substantial brush with mortality. The first series, Aggressively Fragile chronicled my fight with cancer. The second series, Aftermath, displayed themes a little more removed from the epicenter of my diagnosis. After four years in remission, Memento Mori is not a meditation on death, but an encouragement or reminder to embrace your mortality and allow that knowledge to motivate you to fully live each day.
Poetry Artist Statement | Missy Brownson
This ekphrastic experiment has been a welcome challenge. The past year has been a challenging year for all of us; I have found it to be challenging personally, professionally and creatively. Melissa’s evocative images have provided a flood of inspiration; I have written more over the past three months than I have in the past three years.
The poems inspired by Memento Mori images are more reflective of other poems I’ve written, form-wise. My process for writing these entailed what I refer to as “internalizing the image,” in which I connect with the image, relating it either to my own experiences and/or the experiences of other women. It is from this empathetic perspective that I have written these poems.
Memento Mori, Latin for remember you will die, is the third series of work fueled by my substantial brush with mortality. The first series, Aggressively Fragile chronicled my fight with cancer. The second series, Aftermath, displayed themes a little more removed from the epicenter of my diagnosis. After four years in remission, Memento Mori is not a meditation on death, but an encouragement or reminder to embrace your mortality and allow that knowledge to motivate you to fully live each day.
Poetry Artist Statement | Missy Brownson
This ekphrastic experiment has been a welcome challenge. The past year has been a challenging year for all of us; I have found it to be challenging personally, professionally and creatively. Melissa’s evocative images have provided a flood of inspiration; I have written more over the past three months than I have in the past three years.
The poems inspired by Memento Mori images are more reflective of other poems I’ve written, form-wise. My process for writing these entailed what I refer to as “internalizing the image,” in which I connect with the image, relating it either to my own experiences and/or the experiences of other women. It is from this empathetic perspective that I have written these poems.
Missy Brownson | All views expressed are personal and/or poetical.