WITH AN ALMOST INSATIABLE OBSESSION WITH MORTALITY, BRITAIN-BORN ARTIST DAMIEN HIRST PROVOKES BOTH ADMIRATION AND CONTROVERSY

BY EMMA FLOYD

Born in Bristol, England, in 1965 and raised in Leeds, Damien Hirst led an early life marked by the absence of his father. His chaotic youth perhaps sowed the seeds for his lifelong fascination with mortality. After initially struggling to gain entry into Leeds College of Art, Hirst worked various odd jobs before eventually securing a spot at Goldsmiths, University of London, in the late 1980s, where he became part of the dynamic Young British Artists (YBAs), emerging as a leading figure during a time when British art was craving disruption. His 1988 Freeze exhibition, which he curated, showcased his sharp eye for visual spectacle and helped propel him into the spotlight.

Central to Hirst’s style is his preoccupation with death, a theme deeply embedded in his canon of work. His seminal piece, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), featuring a suspended shark in a glass tank of formaldehyde, became an instant cultural icon. This work distills complex themes into a striking visual narrative, offering a visceral encounter with death and high lighting our collective reluctance to confront mortality. Hirst’s work repeatedly explores the human inclination to avoid the subject of death despite its inevitability. The predatory yet lifeless shark reflects the unsettling reality that death cannot be controlled or fully understood.

Drawing inspiration from science, religion, and medicine, Hirst’s Pharmacy installation (1992) transforms medical paraphernalia into religious iconography, imbuing scientific spaces with a reverence traditionally reserved for sacred sites. This tension between healing and death, faith and skepticism, is a recurring theme in his art. Rather than answering questions about mortality, Hirst juxtaposes them by exposing our tendency to sidestep them, suggesting that modern medical or religious solutions are merely distractions.

In 2007, Hirst created For the Love of God, a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with over 8,000 diamonds. This gleaming symbol of wealth and beauty is paradoxically hollow a sharp commentary on the futility of materialism in the face of death. Echoing 16th and 17th century European memento mori traditions (practice of meditating on death), Hirst injects a modern irreverence into this historical trope, suggesting that no wealth or artifice can shield us from our mortality.

Hirst found a natural artistic kinship with the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who, like Hirst, often grappled with themes of life, death, and decay. Their 2013 collaboration on a limited-edition collection of scarves extended this shared thematic ground. McQueen’s use of skulls, a recurring motif in his collections, found a counterpart in Hirst’s fascination with death and preservation. The scarves featured Hirst’s iconic imagery butterflies, insects, and skulls all symbolizing the fragile and f leeting nature of our existence. Through the collaboration, Hirst further explored the delicate balance between life and death; their work serves as a reminder that, despite all attempts to preserve and control, death is the ultimate force: forever present, shaping how experience the world.

Damien Hirst

@ damienhirst