Mourning Ceremony

Porcelain and stoneware, sand, wood ash, water, brass wire, driftwood, preserved dried butterflies (Heliconius genus). 2026.

When someone is cremated, sometimes keeping the ashes in an urn feels like trapping their spirit inside like a genie in a bottle. These vessels provide a speculative alternative, where the ash is offered to the open air and left to interact with the elements. The pitcher holds the ceremonial water and displays plant stems and flowers. Rather than preserving their life inside the vase, the pitcher lets them wither and dry to mark the passage of time. With the bone fish as their compass, butterflies ferry the spirit particles to the otherworld.

Created for the exhibition Unearthly Earth Things, curated by Jasmine Gutbrod and Reilly Blum and hosted by the Aborn Gallery at AS220 in Providence, RI.