The Last Image
Capturing the passed
Katie and Yves discuss how death portraiture is alive and well — and controversial.
21st-century American culture, on the whole, is one that seems to not want to touch death with a ten-foot stick. There are exceptions, of course, but in the U.S., funerals are typically sad occasions, and mourning is private and appropriate.
But as much as Americans like to be uptight about death and mourning, post-mortem photography has a deep history that began long ago. Death portraiture is an art that’s been around for a long time, and it’s still alive today.
Katie and Yves delve into the funerary photography of James Van Der Zee, the controversy of posting images of the dead on social media, and the spectacle of "extreme embalming."
“I appreciate being able to see it as the preserving of a mourning practice that feels celebratory and hopeful. Like, we don’t want to release the loved one’s memory just because they transitioned. We want to keep it alive. ”
“When people talk about things that are gone, whether they’re ideas or people, they’re kind of, like, frozen things. The person or the thing can’t talk back. It can’t refute what you’re saying about them, really. ”
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The Harlem Book of the Dead by James Van Der Zee, Owen Dodson, and Camille Billops
Family of Maryland rapper Goonew talks after his dead body put on public display in DC nightclub
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