Breeyn Rogelstad is a Canadian couturist turned visual artist. Rogelstad uses her experience in making high-end fashion pieces, especially in custom embroidery and hand-cut beading, to now create hand-cut sequin sculptures. In particular, Rogelstad creates memento moris, a specific iconography in art history which functions as reminders that all things alive will eventually die. Memento moris are typically represented as human or animal skulls and skeletons, all of which Rogelstad has remade with custom hand-cut sequins.
In Rogelstad’s hands, everything from a scorpion’s exoskeleton to a rat’s skull can be made with hand-cut sequins. These pieces were sculpted with utmost care that even remote details such as the slightest dents in skulls and serrations in bones are visible. As sequins are typically metal or plastic, materials associated with strictly human-made things, juxtaposing them with memento moris allows Rogelstad to reflect on the complicated legacy of human technology and innovation.
Arguably, it can be said that human endeavour has brought more death and destruction than good to the planet and the living beings that inhabit it. Hence, Rogelstad’s pieces remind humanity that with their mortality comes legacy, an aspect that they have to start paying attention to as they strive to improve their quality of life. Rogelstad’s pieces remind humankind of the environmental footprint of their activities, as they do not have infinite time and infinite natural resources to exploit. This is why the work that Breeyn Rogelstad does is relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Life on Land.
Rogelstad’s intricate sequin sculptures serve as both a tribute to mortality and a reflection on humanity’s lasting impact on the planet. By representing memento mori imagery with human-made materials, she highlights the tension between creation and destruction, beauty and impermanence. Through her work, Rogelstad challenges her viewers to consider not only their own mortality but also the legacy they leave behind, urging a more thoughtful approach to their relationship with nature and innovation.
Find out more about memento mori metalworks by Breeyn Rogelstad and her other pieces on her website www.breeyn.com or Instagram @breeyn__.