Kim Dijkstra  

Vanitas Still Lifes juxtapose life and death to remind us of the unescapable cycles of nature.

By making vanitas portraits of found or recycled objects found in my personal environment, I challenge the perceived value of the discarded items portraied.

By referring to archetypical knowledge of the spectator and by making use of pareidolia, the human tendency to see recognizable images in inanimate objects, I touch on environmental issues. How is it possible we have so many things to discard, and what is the value of small items found in nature? Do we need to use up new resources when there is already is so much to discover in the things we have laying around?

In a society based on over-consumption, I try to reveal the intrinsic quality in the things we seem to value the least. How well do we really know the things we carelessly throw away? Are they not worth animating? In order to be able to recycle and re-use them, must we not bring them to life first, and form a bond with them?