MEMENTO MORI

The image of the skull appears throughout art history but also transcends this context, operating as a potent and universal reminder of the inevitability of death, and functioning within different traditions as an emblem of human ego, original sin, or violent rebellion. In MEMENTO MORI (2021–26), Rodrigues Gonçalves presents myriad variations on an inescapable theme.   

Formed through heat, fracture, and controlled intervention, each work in this glass sculpture series captures a moment at which the material is pushed beyond equilibrium. At temperatures exceeding 1,000°C, molten glass is plunged into cold water, generating internal stress, distortion, and latent instability. Each object resolves itself as a skull, juxtaposing a smooth, closed surface with chromatic variation and structural tension.

In MEMENTO MORI, heat and cold act as opposing forces, generating resolved but unrepeatable outcomes. Form is neither preserved nor lost in manufacture but is instead fixed in the instant of a single, irreversible event. Each skull is titled after an influential figure or moment in history, situating it within an extended continuum of ambition, consequence, and time. The objects function as records of violent material encounter and immediately recognizable symbols of human frailty.

The most recent entries in the series were produced alongside master glassblowers at the UK National Glass Centre ahead of its July 2026 closure. The series thus also records endangered craft techniques and infrastructure, meditating on transformation and permanence beyond the object itself. It is presented here in its entirety for the first time, bringing together previously unseen works.