My work responds to the macabre imagery on display at Burghley house. Images such as The Hell Staircase, painted in 1686-1697, at a time when life expectancy was low and death was a familiar subject. I will explore the close relationship people had with death and illustrate the fragility of life during this period.
The work will consist of an Illustrated Danse Macabre (Dance of death) brought to life in a zoetrope animation. A zoetrope is a circular animation device which creates the illusion of motion when spun. The device will be 24 inches in diameter with viewing slits cut around the outside and illustrated frames on the inside. The viewing slits around the circumference act as a shutter to the human eye, preventing individual images from blurring together when spun. This will transform my static illustrated frames into an animated dance with death.
