Adventures to far off places, 2021

cardboard coffin, wood, crochet blanket, canvas, string.

Coffins and boats have long been vessels of the dead. From Charon the ferryman leading souls to Hades in his skiff and Egyptian kings buried with boats; they symbolise historical containers of religion and ritual to carry the deceased into the afterlife. Boats moving and swaying, holding bodies lifeless and still.

This work enacts a nostalgic trip back in time, to an artefact created in my childhood. Presenting a curious dichotomy, a coffin turned boat, as a place of play, adventure and sometimes even an afternoon nap. A revisiting and remembering of integral moments that have carried me forward and shaped an openness to considering my own feelings around death, what it means to have a good death, and in-turn, a good life. A vessel to ignite imagination and contemplation of what might come next.

This work was awarded Highly Commended in the Lake Art Prize 2022.