The story behind Memento Mori — how a painting became something you can wear
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"Memento mori." Remember that you will die. It is one of the oldest philosophical invitations in the human tradition — not a threat, but a gift. A reminder to live fully, to love fiercely, to notice the brief and luminous fact of being here at all.
It is also the name of GEEMEEO's first collection. And to understand why, you have to understand the artist behind it.
The artist who paints what cannot be spoken
Priyanka Chandra is a contemporary Indian artist whose work lives in the space between the seen and the felt. Her paintings do not explain themselves. They ask you to slow down, to sit with discomfort, to find the beauty that hides inside difficult truths.
Her work is emotionally demanding in the best possible way. It does not decorate a wall. It changes the room.
When GEEMEEO approached Priyanka to be the first artist in the brand's wearable art journey, it was not simply because of technical brilliance — though that is undeniable. It was because her work asks something of the viewer. And GEEMEEO believes that clothing should do the same.
What does it mean to wear art?
There is a long history of art being kept at a distance. Behind glass. On plinths. In galleries that can feel intimidating, exclusive, cold. Art has often been a thing to be observed — not touched, not worn, not carried into the world.
GEEMEEO was born from a different belief: that art should be intimate. That it should travel with you. That the boundary between the painting and the person need not be so rigid.
When Priyanka's Memento Mori works were translated onto garments — with the same care for colour, texture, and intention that she brings to canvas — something unexpected happened. The art did not diminish. It expanded. It became part of gesture, of movement, of everyday life.
You do not simply wear a GEEMEEO piece. You carry a question with you.
The philosophy of the collection
The Memento Mori collection is not morbid. That is perhaps the first misunderstanding to clear away. The phrase — Latin for "remember death" — was used by ancient philosophers, Renaissance painters, and Stoic thinkers not to spread dread, but to awaken.
To remember death is to remember life. To hold both in the same breath.
Priyanka's works in this collection explore that tension with extraordinary subtlety. There are no skulls, no darkness for its own sake. Instead there is tenderness. Longing. The kind of beauty that aches slightly — because you know it will not last, and that is precisely why it matters.
Each piece in the collection is named. Each name is a world.
Kyoko. Sooma. DOKAI. Sooka. Ahinsa. Each garment is not a product with a name — it is a name that became a garment. A character. A mood. A philosophy made fabric.
Why limited edition?
GEEMEEO produces strictly limited-edition collaborations. This is not a marketing strategy. It is an ethical position.
Art is not meant to be infinite. The scarcity of a painting — the fact that there is only one — is inseparable from its meaning. When GEEMEEO creates a limited run of wearable pieces from an artist's work, it honours that same logic. These are not mass-produced garments with a print slapped on. They are editions. Numbered. Intentional. Rare.
To own one is to be a collector, not merely a consumer.
An invitation
The Memento Mori collection is available now on GEEMEEO. Each piece ships with its edition number — a quiet acknowledgment that you hold something singular.
We leave you with the only question that matters:
If you knew this was the only one — the only day, the only piece, the only moment — what would you choose to carry with you?
Explore the Memento Mori collection at geemeeo.com · Art by Priyanka Chandra