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Featuring the work of: Caz Bently |
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust…
For the bulk of human history, our diverse cultures have believed, more often than not, in an active ‘life after death’, in one form or another. The archaeological record is largely defined, and much of our limited understanding of the past determined, by the examination of Grave Goods. From a joint of meat and stone spear, through to the elaborate tombs of the Egyptians or pottery warrior hordes of the Chinese, some of the finest objects ever created would end their days accompanying their owners into a burial. But what of our modern times? In North America at least,
the traditional rituals surrounding death have been eroded, almost forgotten.
The ceremonials of burial are at core more for the living survivors than
the dead. In our attempts to be ‘modern’ we certainly have
lost something important. By discarding what is seen as mere superstition,
we certainly have lost mechanisms that help us deal with the very real
aspects of grief. What conclusions about our current age may be drawn by future archaeologists? Only history will tell. If the quality and diversity of the work see in Grave Goods is any measure, the depth of our imaginations at least will not be in question. Darrell Markewitz |
The bulk of the images in the following catalogue were taken by Catherine Crowe during the exhibit installation.
Text and Objects copyright the individual artist. A general statement of copyright can be found HERE
