Death as Muse: Joanna Ebenstein on Morbid Anatomy, Memento Mori and the Life-Affirming Dark

In this episode of The Transmute Tapes, we speak with Joanna Ebenstein, founder and creative director of Morbid Anatomy, about death as a creative force, memento mori, mourning, anatomy, fairy tales, ritual, beauty and the life-affirming power of looking into the dark. Joanna’s work explores the strange and fascinating spaces where art, death, medicine, mourning and culture meet. Her books include The Anatomical Venus, Memento Mori, Death: A Graveside Companion and The Morbid Anatomy Anthology. For us, this conversation is about the morbid as a form of attention: a way of looking closely at the body, memory, grief, devotion and the fragile intensity of being alive. We speak about curatorial instinct, devotional impulses, hidden histories, fairy tales, transformation — and why facing mortality can become an act of reverence, imagination and gratitude.