Clonidine Painting

While living flowers and leaves usually depict ideas of hope, love and happiness, dead ones embody feelings of the opposite; decay, depression and sadness. Embalmed in permanent stasis, the use of real flowers and leaves in these pieces reflect the complexities of being human. I use Pansy Violas in particular in my work, as the pansy is mentioned in the Shakespeare play Hamlet, Ophelia, who is mad with grief at the death of her father, rambles on about strewing herbs "And there is pansies, that's for thoughts" (Act IV, Scene 5.) Additionally, the word pansy comes from the French 'pensée' meaning 'thought'. The pieces are named after medications for various mental health disorders, which are reminiscent of names of Greek gods/latin stories, as if the figures depicted in my work form my own pantheon of gods, the gods of mental health.