When most people think of death, they might think of grief or mystery, but for many civilizations in the past death was not only the beginning of the next journey, but an opportunity to showcase that culture's skills in transforming the fleeting influence of life into objects and stories of permanence. Things like death masks, effigies, written tales, and folk legends have the potential for extending a single soul's mark on the world far beyond the bounds of their life into eternity-- as long as humanity's' tapestry of memory can last.

 

I Will Meet You On the Other Side of the River is inspired by the original questions; what happens when we die, and how do we immortalize those who are gone? Taking into account centuries of history across several cultures, I decided to make my own death shroud, decorated in imagery that me, and many others, associate with folk stories, warnings, and perhaps a hidden but shared understanding of what happens when we pass on. I used the process as a meditation, allowing myself to become immersed in the stories, omens, and archetypes that leap the boundaries between many diverse cultures and religions.