What would you like to happen to your body after you’re gone?
Would you rather be buried or cremated? Perhaps, you wish to have your ashes scattered at the sea. Maybe you’d actually like to be in a crypt at a church. Or you may have already made arrangements to donate your remains to science. But have you ever thought of being turned into art?
from the Cremart series, Animal ash on paper, 2016, Beatrice Haines
That’s what Bea Haines, an English artist from Manchester, has done throughout the last decade with the remains of her loved ones. An M.A. graduate from the Royal Academy of Arts, the artist started the project of using the the material remains of her loved ones as a medium for her artwork after her grandmother passed away in 2006.
Carpet Habits At The Dressing Table, Ink on Paper, 2007, Beatrice Haines
Longing her grandmothers’s presence, she started doing hyperrealistic ink drawings based on the carpet of the dressing table where her relative used to sit and comb her hair. She gave an emphasis to how the fabric had changed because of her grandmother’s habits. She vividly detailed the dents on the carpet, with every wrinkle becoming proof of her memory. After working on this piece on ink and paper, Haines came up with the idea that she could do much more than just take inspiration from her grandmother’s possessions for her artwork. She realize she could gather the remains that she had at hand: her gallstones.
Heavenly Bodies III, Backlit Scanning Electron Micrograph, 2010, Beatrice Haines
By looking at these strange mineral formations that came from her grandmother’s body, Haine discovered a certain inherent beauty to this cluster of minerals. In an interview with The Guardian, she stated that she didn’t see these rocky formations only as the manifestation of a disease, but instead as precious relics. Examining them under a microscope, she found herself mesmerized by something that others would consider a gruesome piece of bodily waste. In them she saw craters, volume, and specks of light. It was a glimmering pearl that looked hideous from a distance.
Heavenly Bodies I, Backlit Scanning Electron Micrograph, 2010
Capturing the beauty she found in this visceral heirloom, she scanned it with backlighting with an electron micrograph to create images that represent the bodies in full detailed macro scale. The visual is result was stunning. Although it’s nothing more than a properly lit and magnified vision of the signs of bodily decay, the images look magnificently otherworldly, even celestial. As a consequence, she named the series Heavenly Bodies. The stones appear like strange asteroids or moons caught in the orbit of a distant planet.
From the “Cremart” series, Animal ash on paper, 2016, Beatrice Haines
After this photographic series, Haines realized she could transform death into something beautiful. She followed this same impulse in a series of prints titled Cremarts, where she used animal ashes on paper to create intriguing images where the figurative meets the abstract. Concealed by circles of ash, she painted cryptic organic and vibrant forms. Doing this, she converted animal ash into vivid forms that appear fossil-like, a graceful shape to transcend the years.
from the Cremart series, Animal ash on paper, 2016, Beatrice Haines
In 2016 a new tragedy struck Haines’ life. This time, it was her great-uncle Jack who passed away. After her grandmother’s death, she learned that her art was the best instrument that she had to cope with loss. She convinced her uncle’s descendants to allow her to use his ashes for an artwork. The result, however, stands out from her previous work. Since her uncle was a sailor in love with his profession, she mixed his ashes with water from the lake where he first learned to sail, as well as with seawater. Out of these materials, she extracted a pigment that she would use as paint over paper. The results from her experiments are captivating paintings that are rich in texture and compel through their profound shades of watery blackness.
Jack’s Black (detail), Human ash, sea and lake water on paper, 2016. Beatrice Haines
Since it is a color that could have only been achieved by using the remains of her uncle’s body, she named this series of abstract paintings Jack’s Black. The result are captivating frames that transmit an electrifying sensation. In contrast to Heavenly Bodies, the pictures appear as if they were a chaotic microscope with a life of its own. Every trace of color looks as if it were traversed by nerves, veins and arteries. It’s as if out of her relative’s dead body she had found a way to create a living organism.
Jack’s Black (detail), Human ash, sea and lake water on paper, 2016. via Beatrice Haines
To Haines, turning bodies into art is the way through which she pays her respects to the dead. Her work reminds us that even in something as hauntingly painful as death, we can still turn the darkness into something beautiful.
You might be interested in:
The Audacious Artist Who Censored His Own Work
How A Young Artist Purged Her Rape Trauma