
Momento Mori by Harriet Steinbrock Smith
Medium: screen printed textiles
Artist statement: Harriet Steinbrock Smith is a Pittsburgh based multidisciplinary visual artist. They use creative activity as a method of self inquiry, always returning to the question “who am I beyond my personal identity?” Their artistic practice commemorates a formative experience that revealed to them the singularity of conscious awareness. Harriet’s art is a celebration of the incorporeal dream nature of daily life. As an artist they aspire to “live the dream” both literally and figuratively.
The piece was stitched together out of screen printed textiles during a very isolated first winter in Pittsburgh. Harriet created the “one day you are going to die” patch as a self reminder to appreciate life no matter how much of a drag it had seemingly become. Some of the patches were printed at the New York State college of ceramics at Alfred University and others at the Artist Image Resource located in Pittsburgh’s Northside. All imagery is derived from Harriet’s original illustrations.


