Vanitas is a category of symbolic works of art, especially those associated with the still life paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries

PHOTOGRAPHY

The incorporation of modern elements such as the Saran wrap, plastic, sugar packages etc, as well as the use of photography itself add an additional layer of nostalgia and irony when viewed within the historical framework of Vanitas painting. Both the decomposition of the natural (rotting fruit and wilting flowers) and the break down of the man-made objects, reference the physical body, life’s impermanence and the inevitability of death.

This idea of contrast between life and death implies a very deep and sincere meaning to photographs, a method that would be hard to recreate yet very effective if done so to a good standard. I shall try replicate this technique into some of my work in order to conquer this juxtaposition.