Em Moor

Memento Vivere

"Memento Vivere" is a lens-based multimedia body of work created from discarded objects found on Toronto’s beaches. Shocked — but also morbidly enamoured — by the staggering amount of human-made garbage on the beach, I sought to pull something beautiful from the mess.

“"Memento Vivere" is a lens-based multimedia body of work created from discarded objects found on Toronto’s beaches. The items, collected over the span of two years, make up barely a fraction of the total amount of litter that collects on the shores of Lake Ontario — approximately 1,400 metric tonnes each year, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. Shocked — but also morbidly enamoured — by the staggering amount of human-made garbage on the beach, I sought to pull something beautiful from the mess.Dark and high-contrast, the still-lives allude to the infamous 17th Century Dutch still-life paintings that used fruit, flowers, and other organic/impermanent subjects as memento mori. Only, the detritus used in this body of work are far from organic — these human-made plastics will never fully degrade. In a fast-paced, hyper-consumerist society, they will only continue to build up in our environment. Highlighting the sobering permanence of these objects, I am imploring viewers to consider the lasting impact that they have on our environment, and our own culpability in local climate change.The work is comprised of three archival inkjet prints mounted on aluminum dibond, a readymade sculpture, and a 30-minute gestural video (reduced to approximately 4 minutes for online viewing only). ”