Navigating Vicissitudes: Memento Omnia Mutari
Shall I Grow No More Than I Am Bound
One Song Among Us All
Soar The Bridges That I Burnt Before (detail)
Soar The Bridges That I Burnt Before
I've Lived A Life For Wealth To Bring
(l to r) And Here I Lay/ Born On The April Tide/
I've Lived A Life For Wealth To Bring
(left) Glowing In The Wonder / Immerse In That One Moment
By Tom Wachunas
“…The
raw materials used in these artworks all have direct physical connections to
the changes and loss that I have experienced. They come from the process of
collection and curation: sticks and bones gathered from the property around my
old home, flowers given out of grief, feathers given out of love, photos taken
during long reflective walks from times with those no longer here. These are
the raw materials of the heart of this artwork. Artwork that at once is about
control and lack of control. Holding on and letting go. Remember everything
changes…” – excerpt
from the artist statement by Greg Martin
“…And the dangling conversation, And
the superficial sighs, Are the borders of our lives…” lyrics from Paul Simon’s “Dangling
Conversation”
Vicissitude
- the quality or state of being changeable /
mutability / natural change or mutation visible in nature or in human affairs /
a favorable or unfavorable event or situation that occurs by chance : a
fluctuation of state or condition /a difficulty or hardship attendant on a way
of life, a career, or a course of action and usually beyond one's control
EXHIBIT: Memento
Mori – work by Greg Martin/ at Massillon Museum Studio M / 121
Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon, Ohio / ON VIEW THROUGH SEPTEMBER 28,
2025 /330.833.4061 / viewing hours: Tuesday through Saturday 9:30am - 5:00pm
and Sunday 2:00pm - 5:00pm
https://www.massillonmuseum.org/
MassMusings
podcast with Greg
Martin: https://www.massillonmuseum.org/home/programs/massmusings-musem-podcast
In his artist statement, Cleveland-based
Greg Martin tells us that a literal translation of the Latin phrase, memento
mori – the name given to this exhibit - is, “remember you
must die.” Historically, the words have
been applied to a genre of art that has been practiced across many centuries and
cultures: iconography symbolizing the
transitory nature of being alive. Human mortality. Art about the inevitable
arrival of our ultimate departure. OK, death.
But wait. There’s more. Martin also tells us
that his own artful mementos represent a deeper dive into the genre. Latin geek
that I am from a lifetime ago, I imagined an alternative title for this profoundly
arresting mixed media gallery installation: Memento Omnia Mutari. “Remember
everything changes,” as the artist re-minds us.
Looking
at the material manifestations of Martin’s intriguing ideations, my sense of
the sacrosanct was awakened. Here I was, in a chamber of reliquaries. Yet it
certainly wasn’t a dreadful experience of histrionic morbidity or absolute
finality. Martin’s assemblages are exquisitely crafted metaphors of – and dangling
conversations with – existential vicissitudes. Solemn meditations on the
fleeting conditions and circumstances of being alive.
So death,
per se, certainly isn’t the whole story being told in Martin’s objects.
Even their titles articulate a narrative spirit, infused with poetic lyricism. I
imagined chanting some of those titles, stringing them together as if they were
lines in a song.
And here I
lay. Born on the April tide. I’ve lived a life for wealth to bring. Glowing in
the wonder. Immerse in that one moment. Soar the bridges that I burnt before.
Forget our fate. Shall I grow no more than I am bound. One song among us all.
One
song among us all indeed. An eloquent confession of life’s evanescence.