End of the World As they Know it: Artists Depict the Apocalypse in San Rafael

How would you react to a major disaster? 

That’s what artists Eddie Colla and D Young V explore with their new installation at Art Works Downtown, “Memento Mori.”

The duo, Colla, an Oakland resident and D Young V, a San Francisco resident, created an intricate exhibit — named after the Latin term for “remember death” — that conceptualizes life after the apocalypse.

See D Young V, (also known as David Young) talk about the exhibit in the above video.

The exhibit includes a variety of drawings, paintings and mixed media as well as carefully placed objects, including orderly lines of shoes, identification cards, cell phones and other belongings of people who had died during the major disaster.

A video in the exhibit, which provides context to the exhibit’s setting, depicts two people approaching a dead body in rubble. The people take the person’s belongings, take a hand print and create a mold of their face before putting a cross on the person’s forehead and burning the body. The short video ends with a quote:

“The life of the dead is retained in the memory of the living.” 

The exhibit opened to the public during the monthly Second Friday’s Art Walk downtown. It runs through Oct. 11.

The artists and organizers at Art Works, which includes more than 35 artists studios in its maze-like building and dozens of artists — are gearing up for their annual fundraiser and dinner, this year themed “Midnight in Paris.” The event will include art, gourmet food, wine and live music.

At the end of the above video, the artist poses an interesting question: how would you react to the apocalypse? Tell us your thoughts on the end of the world, or how people would respond to a major disaster, in the Comments!