Enrike Groenewald. Universiteit Stellenbosch University. New Talents Award Nominee 2025

Name of graduation student: Enrike Groenewald
Name of guiding teachers: Carine Terreblanche, Mariambibi Khan, Joani Groenewald.

Nominated by Universiteit Stellenbosch University​.


In her project, Enrike Groenewald explores the uneasy relationship between mortality and the abject through contemporary jewellery. Drawing inspiration from Victorian memento mori traditions, she continuously reimagines their use of bodily materials by introducing insects as unconventional substitutes. This shift raises questions about how symbols of death, decomposition, and repulsion can also embody remembrance, love, and cultural meaning.
Through the transformation of insect bodies via postmortem “mortality rituals,” she shifts the focus from death as an end to death as a generative process. Her jewellery objects blur boundaries between self and other, nature and culture, attraction and repulsion, inviting reflection on how we assign beauty, value, and disgust.

Informed by posthumanist and new materialist thought, her practice highlights the interconnectedness of all living and non-living things. By elevating the overlooked and “worthless” into objects of contemplation, her work challenges cultural prejudices while offering jewellery as a powerful tool for reflection, commemoration, and transformation.
/ Mariambibi Khan


Statement by the artist:
Immortalising The Mortal: Exploring the Relationship between the Abject and Mortality in Contemporary Jewellery

Victorian Memento mori (“Remember you must die”) jewellery, often made with personal materials like hair, bones, and teeth, serves as a reminder to the wearer of their own mortality and the fleeting essence of existence. These human materials all have a connection to death, abjection (horror/extreme repulsion) and decomposition. However, when used in jewellery, it becomes more than its abjection but a representation of love, remembrance and culture. My research aims to unfold whether insects, seen as the other or non-personal entity, can change within human society when incorporated into memento mori jewellery. Although insects play a vital role in maintaining our natural environment, they also embody symbols of death, abjection, and decomposition. My practice explores whether insects as an abject material in contemporary memento mori jewellery still hold such purpose and value.

By following a practice-based research methodology, the insects undergo postmortem “mortality rituals” such as cremation, preservation, and the mimicking of fossilisation, which shifts the focus on the process of death rather than just becoming a piece of remembrance. It allows the intersection of abstract concepts like mortality and abjection into tangible representations. Through recognisable and unrecognisable designs, blurred boundaries between the self/other, nature/culture, and the interplay between attraction and repulsion are evoked. This challenges preconceived notions of mortality and the abject by exposing the paradoxical nature of human perception when being confronted with death, but also sparks conversations as to how we classify insects into either favourable or disgusting categories. It further sheds light on the complex cultural and psychological factors that contribute to the inclination towards visually beautiful jewellery as valuable as opposed to jewellery made from often overlooked and “worthless” creatures.

My research is informed by posthumanist and new materialist views that recognise the interconnectedness between all living and non-living things, both human and nonhumans. The jewellery pieces highlight how negative stereotypes about the natural world and its creations can be challenged by viewing the world through a more anthropomorphic lens. By realising that we all share the same materiality, we can contribute to a more balanced and interconnected life. The significance of the insect bodies in contemporary memento mori jewellery can be a powerful tool for reflection, commemoration, and personal transformation of our judgment, ultimately redefining our relationship with the natural world and the inability to avoid death.


Contact:
Email: enrikegroenewald@gmail.com


Find out more about Universiteit Stellenbosch University​