Self-Portrait as A One Hundred Handed Triplet, 2021

Reflecting the multifaceted personalities of the individual, the contradictions and ever present threat of mortality. The one hundred hands and fifty heads links to the myth of Gaia’s monstrous triplets, born warriors (The Hecatonchieres). The many arms become tree branches, the many heads skulls, linking the mythological creatures to the chameleon nature of The Self. In Kabbalistic thought The Tree of Life reflects the realms of the spiritual as they interact with the physical, shown through attributes within circles. The circles form a dual motif merging Byzantine Catholic art with Semitic philosophy.

The figure of Hamlet is both Player and Prince, a play within a play. Hamlet in his famous Gravedigger scene mourning for the court jester Yorrick. The scenes words circle the end and back of the box. Yorrick himself becomes the named, individualised version of all the anonymous skulls. He represents the mortal past of each anonymised skull.

The inside contains found river stones. In Judaism a stone is placed on a grave to show it has been visited. Pebbles, painted or otherwise in Celtic tradition act as charms to ward off ills. The pebbles are in resin to create the association of water.Next to them is The Pawn. The most unlucky of the chess piece, it is usually sacrificed first, if The Pawn survives it becomes the most powerful piece, The Queen. The Pawn is trapped by faux water, unable to move in a game it doesn’t belong to. Finally, the outside is decorated with Waterlilies in the same limited, earthy palette. 

These Autumnal floating flowers are mixed with skull imagery as a reminder of the fleeting nature of summer and human life.