For the rich merchants, 17th Century Holland was a virtual consumer paradise. To flaunt their wealth, their status in society and their knowledge, the affluent commissioned sumptuous still lives.
And yet, it was not without inner conflict. In reality, the pious Dutch lived uneasily with their new-found wealth.
By including objects that referred to the brevity of life and the inevitability of death, the observer was made to contemplate the frailty of man and life's fleeting pleasures...
- thus in some way steadying the 'vertigo' that may otherwise have resulted from too much fame, affluence, pride and political power.
The re-contextualised objects in my work tell a similar story of a society
based on leisure, consumption and expectations.
