My Life, My Coffin
A Life Well Lived
The Resident
Kitty Fogh
90-year-old Kitty is one of the most colourful characters you’ll meet at the nursing home. This affable former English teacher is of Danish-Ceylonese parentage, and has lived at St. Joseph’s for over 30 years.
By her own admission, Kitty has led a full life and enjoyed a very satisfying career in education. In her day, she also coached netball, and was involved in drama, the choir and folk dancing. She still speaks fondly of her teaching days, her students and her former colleagues. Kitty is especially proud of being invited to teach country dancing to members of the royal family of Malaysia’s Johor state.
The Designer
Arlene Rieneke
Indonesian Arlene Rieneke is a designer by day and illustrator by night. In her spare time, she builds little wonderlands with colour pencils, paint, and finely wrought cobwebs. Since completing her art studies, she has been working on various commercial and independent projects. She currently resides in Singapore.
In her creation, “A Life Well Lived” Arlene sought to embody Kitty’s beautiful, lively and independent spirit, while addressing the issue of death in a gentle and positive way. In search of a solution, she stumbled upon a poignant quote by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women.
”Love is the only thing we can carry with us as we go…”
Inspired, Arlene rendered the quote in an organic, flowing form with a warm color palette. She created little characters - cheerful boys and girls - to represent Kitty’s students (her ‘children’ as she fondly refers to them).
I approached the brief with apprehension initially as it was such unfamiliar territory. I was mindful of the generation gap, the scope of the artwork and the sensitivity of the project. Facing death remains for many a touchy matter. How do we ‘accompany’ a loved one to death’s door? These are difficult matters for anyone to wrestle with, especially a young person like myself. But we all have to face death one day, and such conversations remind us that we are never alone in our struggle against the inevitable.
”