I’m not sure how I feel about an artist turning human ashes into art… Artist Bea Haines uses gallstones…
…the remains of relatives to create pieces of artwork. Her work is being displayed at the Griffin Gallery in London and aims to explore the idea of life and death.
She explains: “During my residency at the Griffin Gallery, I will be expanding my research into life and death; animate and inanimate; subject and object.
“In recent years, it has become popular for mourners to have a diamond made using the ashes of a loved one. As diamond and graphite are both allotropes of carbon, it occurred to me that graphite or pigment could also be produced using human ashes.”
On one level, I can see how it might be a nice idea – a tribute to the deceased, a token to remember them by – on the other hand, it could be just really macabre…
I mean, where would you draw (no pun intended) the line? Would you make sculptures out of teeth and bones, or even make a candle holder from their skull?
Bea herself admits a lot of people find her a ‘bit eccentric’ for what she does. She has also used the lungs and hearts of animals (supplied by butchers) and even made casts of people’s tongues for her work.
The recent pictures are made from the ashes of her uncle but in the past she used her grandmother’s gallstones to make prints with.
She adds: “I can get squeamish, but it’s important to overcome this so it doesn’t affect my work.”
https://griffingallery.co.uk/artists/bea-haines
http://beatricehaines.com/main.html