What happens in Spring? Well, the days get longer and the snow thankfully becomes a distant memory, if you don’t live in a small County Durham town called Consett that is.
The plants begin to bloom with Tulips and Daffodils catching the eye. Animals begin to awaken from their slumber, and get the hots for one another producing the cutest of babies. It’s all very sunshine, rainbows and unicorns and personally, I’m more of a rain girl myself.
If you have read any of my other articles by now I’m sure you have realised that as a spooky girly, this was never going to be a generic spring post and the twist was going to be turbulent, thus producing my beauty in decay flat lay.
The taxidermy consists of a Crow skull, Butterfly and Scorpion, all have been ethically sourced and if you are unsure of the term ethically sourced, it means they died of natural causes and have been found/donated.
I assure you I’m not employing poachers to kill cute insects and birds to decorate my living room walls. The skulls and insects represent the twist in the theme. The freshness and life in both the tulips and roses hold, is complimentary against the darkness and beauty of the taxidermy. Pink and white are not really colours I would often choose but I would say alongside yellow they are very typical of a spring colour palette and I felt they would represent the spring theme very well.
The ominous jar located in the centre of these photos is filled with my broken fingers. Now you may be wondering why, but I challenge you with a why not?
These fingers were a cast of my own hand from a project I made in college some years ago, needless to say, the consistency of plaster wasn’t quite right and I lost some fingers in the process.
An amazing fine artist known as Mackenzie Brown who is also a lover of the more macabre side of life asked if she could use my fingers as an installation piece she had. I couldn’t say no, after all, when in my life will I see my fingers floating in a jar again? Never (hopefully).
The inspiration behind this idea was to show that death is truly just as beautiful and natural as birth. I feel there is this huge stigma with death, it’s a very sombre time and people can feel awkward around this subject.
My mentality around death is unique and I think that comes from my spiritual beliefs. I believe that when you are born your spirit is encased into a body and once that body has served it’s time it releases the spirit. The spirit can’t die as it isn’t a physical thing it’s a spiritual connection tied to emotion.
The person you know and love was never just the body, it was the soul you loved and connected with that was contained inside the vessel. We mourn because we will never see the physical body again, but the spirit however never leaves us. When you speak about that person and think about them you keep their spirit alive so they never really go, they are always there watching and supporting you when you need them the most. Births and deaths are a daily occurrence and both should be celebrated with joy equally.
Roses & Tulips – Morrisons £7
Taxidermy – Beetles Bones and Butterflies (Instagram) – £70
Fake Potted Plant – Ikea £5
