This was a though one. The young art student who handed in an empty Buckfast bottle told me that it had just stood model for one of her paintings, a painting she had tried to paint in memory of a friend who had just met a violent death, and who had been in the habit of often drinking this tonic. She hadn’t been very happy with the painting, and expressed a wish to capture her feelings in words instead. I felt that I had to do something here that wasn’t funny or quirky, like so many of my other pieces. Still, I want to emphasize that this piece is not made in memory of a young man who passed away to soon, but in response to her emotions about that.

Before I cleaned it the bottle had contained the mouldy remains of a flower stalk.

I peeled off the sticker and wrote on it, in a simple hand, like someone sending a message could have, then sealed the sticker inside the bottle.

NON FUI, FUI, NON SUM, NON CURO

This was a common inscription on the graves of Roman soldiers, and fitting I felt. Nothing much more can be said I think.

Object no. 18