MEMENTO MORI

There was a time when I was always encountering patients who faced imminent death. That was how my first work, the REQUIEM series, began. The majority of the dying patients were uneasy and afraid, in agony and despair. As I spent long periods of time with them in the hospital, it felt strange to realize that many people living in the world seemed to be under the delusion that they could live forever. In the end, they were no different from my patients awaiting death. Other than the differences in time, we are all living time-limited lives.

I became curious about why most people are seldom conscious of death in their everyday lives. Thus, my second series of works was BABEL. So, what captivates the minds of people living in the current age? It was not difficult to find an answer. Most of us seem to be busy pursuing values related to possessing, enjoying and elevating, in our reality. As we continuously chase after only such values, which will soon vanish, fundamental pain and despair slowly penetrate into our lives.

Memento mori is Latin for “remember death.” In ancient Rome, when a general was on his triumphal march through the city after a victorious war, he would have a slave follow at the rear of the procession, shouting loudly, “Memento mori!” "Do not be too cocky over winning the war. Today you are a victorious general, but someday you also will die. So behave modestly," the custom reminded.

Death preys upon every human being at every moment. From the moment we are born, no one is free from death. If this is true, wouldn’t it be better to always be aware of death, which may come at any time, rather than to deny or forget our finitude as humans? If we could perceive that what ultimately awaits all humans is death, and that no one can be free from this law, then all the worries, agonies and pains of life caused by trying to pursue the values of possession, enjoyment and elevation would be revealed as vain.

As described above, I have worked with two main themes. In portraying these themes, I took objects and landscapes easily encountered in everyday life as my metaphoric subject matter, and expressed them as images. In my first work, REQUIEM, I used metaphoric images to express emotions related to death and the process of overcoming them, based on my personal experiences of watching people die. In my second work, BABEL, I used the city, in its low-key tones, as subject matter to express the pain in our lives and in the world that occurs because we pursue values that will one day disappear.

The two series concerning life and death I have worked on are not mutually independent, but connected in terms of theme. In the BABEL-like ways of life, REQUIEM-like death is already conceived and predicted. That is why I came to show the two sets of works together in this exhibition.

The moral "remember death" is by no means just about remembering death per se. If one always clearly perceives the place of death, which has already entered life, paradoxically this will help one to pursue the true values of the short life that is given. Sincerely reflecting on one's future death at the present point in time will make today’s life much more special, and will serve as an impetus to endlessly ruminate on how to live a better life. I suppose ‘Carpe diem: seize the day,’ which is based on ‘Vanitas: everything is vain,’ is thus combined with the idea of ‘Memento mori.’

Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

(The outcry of King Solomon in his twilight years, who had it all—wealth, honor and power.)