Valar Morghulis
If you are a Game of Thrones fan you already know a little about the medieval theory and practice Momento Mori. Roughly translated into “all men must die,” it is a purifying discipline meant to cultivate detachment through meditation on the transience of pleasure, attainment, and flesh. It is also the name of a joint show between renowned Parisian street artist Christian Guémy, better known as C215, and New York-based stencil artist Logan Hicks. Guémy spent part of this summer traveling in Rwanda, leaving a trail of portraits depicting the righteous, ordinary Hutus who saved Tutsi lives during the 1994 genocide. When he returned, he began work for this collection of arresting depictions that captured the light and dark of fallen fellows, including John F. Kennedy, Robin Williams, and Tupac Shakur. Using up to 15 layers of spray paint, Hicks drew on artworks in the classical vein, as well as from his own photographs of the Catacombes de Paris, the subterranean ossuaries where six million bodies are thought to rest. Somehow both artists have managed to conquer the pessimism of mortality without losing its lessons.
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