MEMENTO MORI is my contemporary homage to Damien Hirst’s “For the Love of God”, and celebrates mortality, beauty, and the irresistible pull of ornamentation.
Hand-crafted from resin and meticulously encrusted with hundreds of polymer-clay embellishments, faux gems, pearls, crystals, and metallic accents, Memento Mori is a hypnotic sculpture that captures light from every direction. Even in low light, it shimmers with a mesmerising glow.
Where Hirst used platinum, diamonds and real teeth, I use my own vocabulary of crafted ornamental clay motifs, iridescent beads, opalescent pearls, golden details and faceted crystals that wink and glitter as you move around it.
With its surface painstakingly covered, Memento Mori is a statement piece sitting at the intersection of sculpture, jewellery design, and contemporary decorative art.
- Resin, polymer clay and faux crystal sculpture
- One of a kind artwork
- Size: 15 x 12 x 17.5 cm
- Free standing
- Signed on the base
- Style: Organic, figurative
- Subject: Human skull
The Bejewelled Collection is a series of artworks that transform sculptural forms and paintings into richly embellished treasures. Each piece is adorned with hand-crafted polymer clay elements, faux gemstones, pearls, and ornamental details inspired by couture jewellery and decorative arts. Influences include the distinctively organic gold-set gemstones of Polly Wales, the bold luxury of David Webb, and the opulent, jewel-like surfaces of Fabergé’s Imperial eggs.
This body of work has emerged during a period of profound emotional strain while caring for both of my elderly parents, who are housebound and require continuous support. The process has become a form of meditative therapy — slow, meticulous, and absorbing—allowing me to step out of worry and into a tactile world of colour, texture, and ritual. Each piece takes me hours to create, but the intricate results mirror the intention: beauty built from patience, devotion, and the need to hold onto something precious in difficult times.
