Memento Occidi

Highly commended

2026
oil on canvas
125 x 200 cm

This painting began as a relatively traditional memento mori piece. I wanted to reflect on the beauty and brevity of life and, in my case, how close we had come to death while on operations. Compositionally, I was inspired by Ben Quilty’s Rorschach paintings and wanted to use this structure to highlight the fact that we are constantly mirrored by death, with the finest of boundaries separating us from it.

As I painted, however, I increasingly thought not only of my inevitable role as death’s victim, but also the incredible peculiarity of having served during my time in uniform as its accomplice. In this respect, the touching of the heads within the composition began to reflect not just a proximity to, but also an intimacy with death.

I hope that this piece acts as a reminder to the viewer that we are in permanent state of liminality between life and death. This shouldn’t frighten us, but instead inspire us to lead good, happy lives in the precious moments we possess.