'Til Death Do Us Art

For the first time in what feels like forever, the temperature raised just enough last weekend for me to shrug off my heavy winter coat, big furry hat and boots.  Oh joy!

So, we took the opportunity to don our Sunday finest (or at least, something without thermal properties) and headed over to the Welcome Collection to have a look around the Death - A Self-Portrait exhibition.

Unfortunately, photography was not permitted once inside the exhibition.  I have seen numerous photos taken by my friends who have also been to see it, popping up on Facebook - but frankly, I am just not stealthy enough to sneak a few snapshots and didn't fancy getting told off by the museum staff.

I did, however, take a photo of the pretty lights in the cafe, and in the lift!

Anyway, here's a few pictures from the exhibition that I found online...

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The exhibit, as you can imagine, is macabre, with some rather creepy pictures and photos on display.  But perhaps the creepiest thing of all was John Isaac’s wax sculpture, ‘Are you still mad at me?’ (2001).  Propped up on a wooden crate, this life size piece was all skin, bone, flesh and guts and reminded me of a gruesome version of one of Gunther von Hagens' preserved bodies.

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I loved all of the Día de los Muertos iconography, as well as the giant bone chandelier (made of plaster).  It was also quite fascinating and eye-opening to see the figures of how many people have died of various different causes during the 20th century, shown on a large spider diagram which took up an entire wall.  

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But probably my favourite part of the exhibition were the little postcards which looked like skulls from a distance, but when you got up close they were two people kissing, or two people having a drink together, or a lady resting on a rock, and so on.  One of these pictures was used on the main poster for the exhibition.  I found them to be a mixture of romantic and haunting, but ultimately very clever in design. 

This is certainly a curious collection, belonging to Richard Harris, a former antique dealer based in Chicago.  It's worth a visit, and runs until the 24th February 2013.