Grace Stuart

Artist Statement

Epitaph is an exploration into death in a digital age, where the physical body is immortalised through the digital self. The loss of a friend in a digital context is a complex event – in many cases, losing an online friend simply means not seeing them log in again. Epitaph argues that keeping the screen names of the people you’ll never speak to again is a form of monumentalism, acting as a self-chosen epitaph for the departed. Bouquets of flowers are depicted in all three polaroids, representing a visual expression of our sympathy, grief, love, and respect for the deceased. The use of streetlights in a photographic context expresses the capture of a person’s life that cannot be extinguished, immortalised in a chemical reaction – synonymous with the immortalisation of the digital self through the cloud.

Artist Bio

Grace is an interdisciplinary artist, with a background in printmaking. Their works typically explore themes of home, heritage and the natural world through mixed media or representational image prints and have the utmost regard for environmental impacts. Grace's previous works include innovative interactive prints and explorations of organic material agency. Grace has always believed in death positivity and the right to choose an assisted death.