AJ Hawkins uses fine art as a research medium to explore the challenges of living in a mortal body. Drawing on her background as a painter, sculptor and custom fabricator, AJ often creates hybrid art works that blur the lines between 2- and 3-dimensional, traditional and experimental.

 

Her Kickstarter-funded project, The Reclamation, challenges viewers to choose more environmentally-friendly afterlives by highlighting the value of human decomposition and the necrobiome. In years since, AJ's art has focused on experiences surrounding grief, illness and the experience of living in a mortal body.
 

Her artwork and writing have been published on the websites of the Order of the Good Death, Death & The Maiden, Death/Scent, Unquiet Things, Haute Macabre and Death Salon. Her work has shown at Ghost Gallery in Seattle, WA and Ford Gallery in Portland, OR. In 2020, AJ was a featured storyteller and artist for Storyborne's Heart Stories event, and was invited to discuss her work on death on the Critical Bounds podcast. She has been a vendor at the Death Salon Boston Artist Marketplace, The Creeping Museum Artist Market and the Deathsploration Art & Resource Fair.

When not in her studio, AJ runs KALMA, her death positive brand for the living, full of ethical and eco-friendly goods that honor mortality, celebrate beauty and cultivate curiosity.