Artist Statement: Reliquaries
Although fundamental beliefs between religions vary, one aspect remains consistent: believers are offered a form of immortality and solace from a temporal existence through the afterlife, reincarnation, Paradise or Heaven. Throughout history and various cultures, religion has often served to mitigate an inherent apprehension of death by offering hope and solace from an otherwise transient existence.
To this day a desire to evade or at least prolong mortality remains constant. However, the source of refuge often vacillates from faith to modern medicine. Medical advancements offer the promise of a body resistant to disease, injury and even aging. Thus, when presented with an ailment and the uncertainty it propagates, the ability to evade a temporal existence is often transferred to modern medicine and its practitioners.
Work from this series investigates themes of immortality exhibited historically through religious belief systems and currently through new medical technology. Collectively, these pieces question the physiological, psychological and ethical aspects of striving for the eternal.
