This still life is an allegory for samsara, meaning the cycle of birth and death in sanskrit. I was inspired by this concept as outlined in the Vedic texts originating from India. The human and animal skulls, which in the setup are both genuine, represent the realm of death. The three masks stand for the three realms of hell/demon, earth/human, and heaven. And the dried leaves tie the top and lowest level of the image together by implying the fall even from the heavenly leaf mask. The wagon wheel refers to this cyclical nature of life.