Just in Case (Kio): cremation urn

In response to my husband's anxiety during the height of the pandemic, I made him the first custom cremation urn, titled "Just in Case". Dark humor has always been central in my work and at this tough time I found it useful as a coping mechanism for dealing with death: we must all die, let's embrace it. I depicted him as an eagle, and in line with the Victorian Memento Mori tradition, the urn included his actual hair. Since my mother passed away at my current age, preoccupation with death and Memento Mori, where the deceased was posed for a photo and their hair kept in lockets, have been on my mind way before COVID. The pandemic brought it to the surface in the form of this series of cremation urns. Each urn begins with selecting an animal that represents the person, and in allusion to Memento Mori, includes a lock of their hair. They are made for specific people--strangers, friends, and family alike--as a means to create empathy and trust among individuals, expanding it further into social engagement.