Life and Death

A series of drawings about death and the afterlife, inspired my residency at the Pier Arts Centre in the Orkney Islands and trip to Japan in 2024. In Japan and Orkney, I explored Neolithic sites, Jomon settlements, and visited Mt. Osore, a remote active volcano where the mythical river Sanzu takes us to the afterlife. Using black sumi ink from Japan, the drawings affirm the imagination’s ability to invent grieving rituals and other worlds after we die. Poet Tamar Yoseloff has collaborated by writing ‘The Ship’ in response to the drawings. An accompanying book includes the poem, and an essay by writer and curator Paul Carey-Kent.