‘Edgy’ exhibition brings death to life

TWO artists have combined their skills to create an exhibition exploring beauty in death.

Lauren Starr and Sarah Wallace-Smith’s Memento Mori invites attendees to question their own perceptions about death at the free Dudley House display, on show until 1 June.

“Last year during COVID I was doing a lot of research into art history and came across Dutch still life paintings and the sentiment of memento mori which means ‘remember you’ll die’, and I loved it so much that I started to photograph some still lifes,” Starr said.

“I said to Sarah would she also like to do the exhibition with me because I love her work and we’re both artists in residence at Valentine’s in View Street, and she loved the idea too and I think our work compliments each other really well.

“Remember you die is not supposed to promote fear or be morbid, it’s supposed to be a moto to live with life at the forefront and prioritise life by remembering that its short.”

After being successful in their application for a City of Greater Bendigo subsidy grant to exhibit at the venue, Starr combined her fine art pieces, which are a contemporary reimagining of popular 17th and 18th century Dutch still lifes, with Wallace-Smith’s mixed medium pieces.

“It’s been interesting to see that there’s actually been quite a lot of art exhibitions opening where a lot of the themes revolve around or they’re investigating death, life, and ‘why are we here?’ and ‘what’s important?’,” Wallace-Smith said.

“I think because of the year we’ve just had, a lot of people have really had a moment to consider how they’re living their life and what’s important and what’s not.”

Momento Mori is open from 10am to 4pm most days at 60 View Street, and all works are available for purchase.