THE FORD SERIES 2

Book of the Dead

(December 2024–April 2025)

“We now return our souls to the creator,
as we stand on the edge of eternal darkness.
Let our chant fill the void,
in order that others may know.
In the land of the night,
the ship of the sun,
is drawn by the grateful dead.”

For the children of Gaza and Sudan who are currently experiencing the horrors of war and engineered famine.

Artist statement

The journey of the soul after death.

In the second phase of my exploration into grief, I continue to engage with the spontaneous nature of action painting, now with a deeper focus on figurative forms. I refer to these biomorphic evolved to anthropomorphic shapes as "the sprites." Drawing inspiration from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, I created a series of paintings that depict the rituals surrounding death, using the text as a narrative structure. These works reflect not only personal grief but also an investigation into ancient practices of mourning and memorialization.

The freestyle drawings embedded within the paintings evoke hieroglyphics, capturing the essence of these rituals through a modern lens. The juxtaposition of energetic action painting with the measured and reflective nature of death rituals contrasts the ancient with the contemporary. Through these themes, I explore how different cultures approach death—often through methods designed to calm, soothe, and honor the departed.

This approach stands in stark contrast to the modern American funeral, often symbolized by black hearses, pallbearers, veils, and caskets—a somber, structured ritual. By referencing ancient traditions, I seek to create a space for reflection on the purpose of grieving, the act of memory, and the ways we memorialize those we’ve lost.

In this series, my goal is to use the action figures, the "sprites," to craft a narrative about contemporary grief and also the profound impact of war and its broader generational implications for the children affected. The casualties of war conflicts reflect not only the immediate loss of life but the ongoing trauma and grief felt by entire communities left languishing in the wake of war. 

Through this work, I muse about ancient funeral rituals, juxtaposing them with the modern pursuit of empire by the tech oligarchs, and contemplate how the grief of war reverberates across cultures and generations, shaping the ways we mourn, remember, and ultimately heal as a collective.

-Macaulay Woods, April 2025