Danse Macabre
Tuesday 19th May 2026, @18:15I enjoy telling stories about the emotions and experiences that shape us as people. The sharp pain of grief, the feeling of death as a quiet betrayal, and the way it lingers like smoke around us, constantly reminding us of its proximity. And just as we begin to grow familiar with its presence, it reaches out and latches on.
Danse Macabre is a series of five figurative paintings that explore the dance between Death and Mortality. Borrowing its title from the medieval motif of the “dance of death,” this series reinterprets this historical allegory by shifting the narrative from one solely of inevitability, to one of quiet proximity and interaction.
Rather than depicting death as a distant or monstrous force, these paintings position it as an inevitable counterpart to life, a witness that moves alongside us: a lifelong partner.
Within Danse Macabre, sanctity is not reserved for the divine; it is located within the fragile threshold between life and its end.
Danse Macabre ultimately reflects on duality. Through these encounters between Death and the Mortal, this series invites you to consider death not solely as a moment of loss, but as a constant companion within the choreography of life.
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BC, Canada
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I, Michelle Msami, acknowledge that I am working, living and creating on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Stó:lō, Semá:th (Sumas), Mathxwí (Matsqui), and Leq\'á:mel First Nations.
© Copyright 2025 Michelle Msami | All rights reserved.