A Mere Passing Thing – Emma Winkler

Drawing on fears and experiences growing up, at the core of this exhibition is the question of how to deal with death as the ultimate, inevitable unknown.

Through collage-based, multimedia paintings and hand-painted animations, A Mere Passing Thing explores death and its associated states of mind, such as rumination and denial. Medieval references like the Danse Macabre, Ars Moriendi, trickster and fool create a framework for interrogating these reactions.

The Danse Macabre is a medieval allegory, depicting the dead gathering a range of figures to dance to their graves, reminding viewers of their own mortality in a carnivalesque and even cathartic procession. The Ars Moriendi translates to ‘The Art of Dying,’ a text guiding readers on how to die ‘well’ through religion and planning. Although they could be seen to represent opposing approaches, these works highlight the futility and absurdism of attempting to avoid or prepare for one’s death. Through these references and the symbol of the spiral, the distress generated by death and failure is analysed. So, rather than shying away from death and increasing one’s dread, this exhibition explores the way embracing and reframing death and failure as productive and restorative can be an antidote to anxiety.

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