Memento Mori (Coconuts with Cross)
When my family moved to the outer suburbs of Darwin I noticed two different things: the amount of roadside memorials on my commute, and a local shop selling memorial items in the window, namely very bright fake floral crosses and arrangements.
I was particularly struck by the juxtaposition of these joyously colourful crosses in the shop, and the commemorative concept of ‘celebrating life’, but how their placement in the landscape is instead a mark and reminder of tragedy.
I think this juxtaposition in some ways is a metaphor for the Northern Territory - a place of great colour, joy and celebration, that equally runs with an undercurrent of tragedy and hardship.
I painted this in the dry season, a time when the coconuts at our place begin to age and drop. The coconuts represent a juxtaposition also, if they are ripe they can be a thing of happiness to drink and to cook, but they also present a constant danger of being seriously hurt by a falling coconut.
Lots of fires were taking place at this time also, and the bright warm under painting and flame like petals on the cross also echo this time of season. The fire qualities also give a biblical feeling of ‘fire and brimstone’, a feeling of wrath, another strong emotion that can align as the precursor to, or result of, tragedy.
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Acrylic on canvas
91cm x 91cm