I started looking, for reasons unbeknownst to me, for 'memento mori' art today. There is, of course, the Esquire story that inspired the Hollywood movie 'Memento' (the title was changed after test audiences didn't get the Latin), and some other movies including a Korean one and a made-for-tv one from the '70s.

There's a metal band of some kind called Memento Mori. A group called Ghosts and Vodka released an album by the name. And there are numerous songs called 'Memento mori,' including ones on Patti Smith's 'Peace and Noise' album, Matmos' 'A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure' and John Zorn's 'Cartoon S&M.' And there's an X-Files episode bearing the title (here's some fan art). There's even a font, and for that matter at least three mediocre tattoos.

And, above all, there's plenty of art. Russian folk prints, rosary beads, textile art (check out the use of the golden mean in Steiglitz' 'Momento Mori'), drawings by Tom Phillips and Hetty Krist and collage/mail art/something from Vittore Baroni. I found sculpture by Carolein Smit in clay and baubles, one from Elsa Mutinelli that evokes 'The Scream,' and one with an umbrella in it. And the paintings--Walter Gaudnek's, based on the work of Hans-Holbein-the-Younger; Paul Rangell, whose Memento Mori series includes paintings of microscopes and gas gauges; and the Mexican-influenced work of SRV superfan Veronica Piastuch.

I found some essays, including ones about collecting gravestone rubbings, death in Roman sculpture, death in old-time American photography, collecting the dance of death and multi-symbolic images and, that's right, death.

A lot of the art, though, seems somehow more personal, from this Lincoln memorial to this art show from cancer survivors. And, in the realm of the very personal, here's some hair art, and a Victorian tear-catching bottle. I kind of want one now.

Searching for 'memento mori' also produced some results I don't understand, including many in languages I don't speak, and some for people only vaguely related to the idea, like these corset-makers and this rpg designer (check out the lj page).

And, not only to save my favorite link for last (um, nearly last) but also to make a half-assed connection to Mike Davis' 'Ecology of Fear,' which I just loaned to Rachel, there's Berkeley's Mori project, which transforms seismograph data into a constantly-refreshing webpage. Oh, and here's an invite to a Karen Finley show from some years back.

I've been working on this post, on and off, for a good while now, and I want to wrap it up. So, here is a link to one of Paul McClure's pendants. I wish I had pictures of the rest of the series.