In my mind: memento hominem
Between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, people in Switzerland and France used to place in small cases or cabinets of curiosities, different items representative of some event or episode in their life. The items, exotic or commonplace, not precious, probably wouldn’t make much sense to anyone aside from the individual whose life they represented. In its entirety the cabinet would be a reminder of life, a memento hominem.
In a similar way, you can fill the openable headdresses of my sculpted heads
with the most meaningful objects of your life, reminding you of where you’ve been and inspiring you to keep on going. In doing so you will complete the sculpture and, at the same time, write your personal history day by day. Furthermore in headdresses’ forms and decorations your history will intermingle with the histories of different people and cultures from all over the world.
The heads, thus become memento hominem cabinets, are one-of-a-kinds. I sculpt the faces in polymer clay and the headdresses in paperclay; the eyes are crystal-glass mouth-blown in Turingia (Germany). The bases are marble.
Memento Hominem 1
In this headdress the lower portion recalls the European fashions of the fifteenth century while the hennin, similar to a falling drop of water, recalls the sixteenth century African Oba heads.
(Dimensions: 4,7"L x 6,3"W x 20"H)
Memento Hominem 2
The headdress recalls the Spanish fashions of the 17th century so frequently portrayed by Diego Velazquez. The painted scene is taken from a toile de jouy decorative pattern (18th century). The phytomorphic motives are taken from both the Islamic and European traditions (see the famous Meissen rose)
(Dimensions: 8" L x 6" W x 15" H)