Sara Bressem Momento Mori 2002 Paper clay, earthenware glaze Sugar Maple My work brings together memory, natural history and metaphor. This piece arose out of a childhood fascination with insects that reached a height when I was nine, during a gypsy moth infestation. I am trying to recreate the sense of wonder and horror of that encounter, to represent creatures that inhabit the space between attraction and repulsion. Moths, in their delicate, transient nature and short, prolific lifespan, exemplify the momento mori, a life-affirming object which urges us to live life to its fullest before it is too late. In the past, people believed that "moths were the souls of the dead, flinging themselves against the windows of the living..." On close inspection, the markings on the creatures are revealed as human eyes, looking out. They are drawn to this tree and to each other the ways moths are drawn to light, only here the attraction is mysterious. Why have they converged into these forms? List of Participating Artists

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