Charmaine
de Heij

The title and inspiration from the work comes from the Latin phrase: “Remember that you will die” and how the Memento Mori is used in the art for centuries. I use objects in “Memento Mori” to remember the death, memories and absence of my mother.

We will all die, life has an expiration date. Life is temporary. I am finding you in everything around me, but my mind makes me forget how your voice sounds. Sometimes I think you are near, it’s the smell of your perfume: Chanel number 5. But then I remember you won’t see the sunrise again. You won’t feel the sand that I carefully wash off at home. Nothing is supposed to last forever. Memories can trick you, and fade away. Time is never gone, and the past is always something that will be. I will take the absence of you with me to the future, the presence of you stays in the past.

My mom doesn’t exist anymore between life and death; she now only exists in my head.