James Hopkins has a hole different way of showing skulls. By using everyday stuff on 4 or 5 shelfs, he creates a skull. If you can’t see it (what I can’t imagine) look closer!  The term “Vanitas” (sometimes the term “Momento Mori” is used in its place) comes from a practice in which Dutch painters put symbolic imagery of death into their still lives during the 17th century.
(designs are made in 2006)Hopkins says, ‘I don’t want people to think of these works as being negative or morbid — in fact, they should be read as a celebration of life.’
source of Shelf Life