Remember you must die.
A work made in collaboration with writer Micah Higbed, MOMENTO_MORI_ was a multimedia sculpture completed for the Mutialism exhibition at the Crypt Gallery, Abbotsford Convent.
A traditional Memento Mori is an artwork designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the shortness and fragility of human life. MOMENTO_MORI_ is an updated version to keep pace in the digital age, a reminder of our inevitable death that uses the speed of technology.
A QR code embeded in the 3d printed skull could be scanned to access a piece of writing by Micah Higbed made in collaboration for this work, as well as the 3d model that was created for the 3d print. The writing is featured bellow.
MOMENTO_MORI_
by Micah Higbed
“I know, I know. If I could have got anyone else to help tonight I would have but you were the only person nearby I know and trust. Please just help me now. Please” pleaded Senni.
The man on the bench coughed and blood dripped from the side of his mouth.
Zeno looked up at Senni, wiped the tears away from his face, grabbed the man’s leg and held it firmly in place.
Senni began sawing, she wasn’t a praying woman but wished she was at times like this.
She was halfway through the bone when the knock on the door came. She froze.
They both stared towards the hallway and tried to stay silent. The knocking came again.
They waited. And waited. And waited. And then they saw the glow from the porch light turn off.
“Hurry up and finish!” Zeno whispered fervently.
“Hold him still.” Senni said calmly.
She resumed sawing and was almost through when the man on the bench let out a scream and sat bolt upright, his nearly severed leg hanging on by sinews at the end of the bench. He coughed up some blood and then fell back on to the bench, his skull cracked loudly on the marble surface.
Senni swore and then grabbed his wrist.
“Time of death nine-thirty-five PM.” She declared. “Please write it down. It’s important.”
Senni turned and looked at Zeno, who was white-faced and staring at the corpse on the kitchen bench.
“What do we? What do we do?” Zeno asked.
“Now we have to dump the body, make it look right, then we clean up and then we tell the family.” Replied Senni.
-
Hiero watched as the doctor and her assistant dropped the body off the roof. He knew she was a doctor from the way she moved, he’d watched plenty of them on the monitors, besides no one else had any reason to dump a body this way. He wish they’d chosen a different building, he didn’t want any police around. He didn’t mind police, he just didn’t want them here, not at his special place. He lowered the enormous weights slowly and let out a small grunt. He’d spent too much time outfitting this place to lose it now. He turned and picked up two massive dumbbells which he began pumping up and down, never taking his eyes of the monitors. He could never take his eyes off the monitors.
Hiero hated the industrial techno that blared out of the speakers inside and out of his building but it was necessary to mask the noise. You couldn’t ask a man to be silent while working out, you couldn’t ensure he would never drop something heavy. The sounds were one of the things they look for, he knew. Too many of his friends had been caught in their houses that way.
Hiero would have to stop soon and lock up but if they found the body and wanted to investigate it might be a few days before he could come back, so he was going to risk a few more minutes, a few more reps. He could keep watch on the monitors. He would always watch the monitors.
Hiero knew if he got caught in this place doing what he was doing, that would be it for him. Jail or death depending on who found him. So he watched his monitors. He worked out and he watched his monitors. Not for the first time, he cried as he lifted. His greatest joy had been to stare at a mirror and watch his muscles move in their perfection as he exercised but now he had to watch the monitors. Never himself. The glimpse of his own faint reflection in the light of a monitor was never any relief.
Marcus’ scream smashed out into the night, he lost his balance, smacked his skull into the brick wall and blood ran down his leg. If he’d managed to do anything to lose them before, it was all ruined now. He pulled the jutting wire out of his flesh and started to run again. Just a few more corners a little more alleyway and then, if he was far enough ahead, he could risk hiding the cargo, come back for it later. He skidded to a halt as he saw one of them coming from in front of him. How had they got in front of him? He climbed on top of the dumpster and jumped towards the balcony. He grabbed at the concrete but it was slippery, he couldn’t hold on and he fell hard, flat on his back. He saw stars and then flashlights.
“Keep your hands where we can see em.” Yells one with a flashlight.
They pull him up on his feet, one holds his arms behind his back and then another starts to go through his pockets.
If only he could think straight, if only he could reach his pockets but the fall had knocked the wind out of him and his leg was aching where the wire had poked through and they were shining lights in his eyes and not giving him a chance to speak.
Now they were taking everything out of his coat and laying it down, in neat little rows.
He started to cry.
“Pills” one says
“and bandages” says another.
“What are they?” one asks.
An officer pops one of the pills out of it’s silver packaging and runs his tongue over it.
“Paracetamol, for sure! ”He snickers.
“How many all up together? The biggest one asks as he reaches into his jacket.
“Ten per foil, twenty foils, that’s two hundred total!” One exclaims, barely able to hid his excitement.
“And six bandages with clips” Reminds one of the searchers.
“That’s enough.” Says the big one as he draws his gun.”Any last words?” he asks.
“It Hurts!” Whimpers Marcus and then the gun goes off and the bang is the last thing he ever hears.
-
“That was a gunshot, I know it was a gunshot!” yelled Zeno.
“Calm down and keep holding that drip up, it was probably just a mugging, a gang member, nothing to worry about!” assured Senni.
“Sounded like a cop gun to me!” Zeno replied.
“How would you possibly know the difference between the sound of a cop gun and the sound of any other gun” Asked Senni.
“Well…there was only one shot.” Zeno answered.
Senni fell silent for a moment, then reached for the saw and said “Look, if we don’t do this now, he dies.”
Zeno sucked in his breath and looked down at the man lying on the kitchen bench. The man’s pants were off, one of his legs looked almost twice the size of the other and was the wrong colour entirely.
“He might die anyway.” Zeno mumbled.
“Let’s just try. I know it’s been a bad week for you, I’m sorry about what happened to your brother’s kid and…” Started Senni before Zeno cut her off.
“This damn world! It didn’t have to happen… measles, measles! You should have heard her crying, you should have seen the rash.” Zeno screamed and then sobbed. “The Damn Government! You just know their kids are getting the shots! But not ours!”
The model to the right was created for the 3d print can be explored by clicking play button.