WHO ARE YOU?

I'm a writer-artist. I studied history with an eye towards a career in academics, until I decided that I would rather pursue making art. My "field of expertise" is German social & political history; however, my interests are broad: in terms of historical subjects, I read a lot about fashion, medicine, thought, & art (including music & literature)

As an artist-writer, my main thematic interests are death, memory, the passage of time, Faustian pacts, & forbidden knowledge. My work is heavily impacted by my interest in history, as I prefer to write in low-fantasy historical settings, which give me the opportunity to embark on a hundred small research projects & show off the results to others. I would say my main artistic influences are Goethe's Faust, the works of Susanna Clarke, Oscar Wilde, Anne Rice, & CLAMP—which is perhaps a somewhat unusual collection of work, I will admit

WHY VANITAS?

Vanitas (or "vanity" in Latin) is a genre of Baroque art that is meant to make the viewer reflect on the fleeting nature of their own mortality. Paintings in this style are still-life tableaus; common elements include fruit & other food; flowers; candles & smoke; bubbles; timepieces; sheet music or musical instruments; books; & of course, bones. The style originated in the early 16th century in the Netherlands, where it continued to be a common through the next

You could probably make an argument that this website is themed after vanitas because of the nature of a website like this: you pour time & effort into building it—carefully curating it to reflect your tastes & specifications—& yet it will still someday vanish. Or you could argue that it's because building a website like this is like reaching back & trying to grasp something that has already long faded—a version of the internet when it was still untamed & uncharted; where personal sites like this thrived without oversight from a corporation concerned about app store viability

However, this website is themed around vanitas simply because it's a genre of art I enjoy, & one I can look at without getting tired of it. It's a pretty pretentious set-up, I'll grant; but there's no deeper meaning to it.

ANYTHING ELSE?

I like a wide range of music, but my main tastes are '80s darkwave, goth rock, classic punk, metal, & //drumroll// Irish folk. If I'm awake, I'm drinking tea (not a joke or an exaggeration in any way). Part of the Project Moon nation