Raewyn Walsh: Artist Statement & Bio

Victory over Death

I was thinking about what happens in the end; it’s nebulous, yet the dynamics of getting a hold of meaning are part of the human experience. Like breathing.

The ten brooches in this exhibition are made using beeswax from hives in the back garden; a place, I can testify, where faith is restored by the continuous die back and resurrection that comes with the seasons. When mixed with a tree rosin the wax cures to a durable finish.

This wax medium was used, primarily by Greek artisans, to paint Egyptian funerary portraits that were attached to mummy wrappings. Their image, and other details, immortalised in wax and then unsealed and deciphered centuries later.

Victory over Death heads to Australia on October 2024.

Raewyn is a jeweller who lives and works in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand)