before and after death

Before and After Death: A stunning series of portraits of people — shortly before and just after they die — is touring Europe now, and tackling one of the biggest remaining taboos in Western societies. Photos by Walter Schels, text by Beate Lakotta.

Comments

[Daniel K. Gebhart]

I've seen this project before and it made me think how the photographer worked on it. He must have been waiting for their death like a vulture. I dont like this idea.

[Elena]

These photographs are currently on show at the Wellcome Collection in Euston, London.
They usually have very good exhibitions, but despite the real beauty of the portraits I must say found this one a little disturbing.

[Susan Jonsson]

Anyone else besides me that finds this idea repulsive?

[André Breda]

I saw this exhibition in Lisbon (Portugal).
I didn't really know what it was until I got there. It is very impressive because of the stories. It's a very big punch in the stomach, really makes you think.
I remember going there with a colleague on a lunch break, and coming out and thinking we complain a lot about work and other petty stuff for no reason!

[André Breda]

I saw this exhibition in Lisbon (Portugal).
I didn't really know what it was until I got there. It is very impressive because of the stories. It's a very big punch in the stomach, really makes you think.
I remember going there with a colleague on a lunch break, and coming out and thinking we complain a lot about work and other petty stuff for no reason!

[SabineM]

I saw this or a project just like this in Santa Monica, CA years ago. It was quite interesting, but I did find it a bit hard to view

[Janelle]

I'm not so sure I like this...

I did see this - http://www.conmon.com/slideshow/rememberme/index.html - which follows a woman and even captures the moments of and after her death. But I feel the "remember me" one was a wonderful way to capture a very hard struggle.

The before and after death, though, leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I can't even explain why.

[Ákos]

It is hard,
I never forget my great-grandma's face before and after (I was with her, she was 93),
but I think it's a private thing, not for ewerybody...
I think this concept makes big noise in a peaceful moment :(

[Grant Hamilton]

Last week I co-directed a plastic surgery course and we had a cadaver dissection lab. Some of them had the most beautiful hands and I wanted so badly to photograph them.

[Khamis]

These images are powerful!

[Marcin Kowalik]

Well... I find it educating. Really.
Since my father got a stroke, and is chained to bed - I'm learning how to deal with him and his problems every day. So please... read the caption below the pictures, and take some advice from it.
Like the story about the advertise man.
No one asked him how he felt... despite the amount of friends aroud. And that is depresing.

We have to learn how to deal with pain, suffering and death of our loved ones.

[brad]

We don't judge art, art judges us. Think deeper about it: why would you find these photographs repulsive? Death is a reality that we each face, and the meaning of life can only be understood in context of its ending.

Suffering and death are all around us, and are where true connection points happen. Or could, if we'd simply stop ignoring them... I think that's what this photographic effort achieved.

Thanks for posting this swissmiss.

[haus]

i think its so interesting things like that.
The death tabu is only that. A tabú.

[Olga]

I looked at this exhibit before commenting. The people gave their consent and told a little bit of their story. They wanted to participate. So I don't think there is anything disturbing here at all. The photographers did a fantastic job. It's definitely educational. Death really does bring lives into focus, I know it's trite but it's also true. We are all so close to it, we just don't realize it -- until we lose someone really dear to us (I have, and the experience has changed me and how I look at my own life). Thank you, swissmiss, for posting this. I have bookmarked it.

[Markus]

This only seems repulsive since we've made such a big taboo of DEATH.

Death is a normal part of life. It may not be fun but it is a normal part. It's healthier to get used to it then to simply deny it all the time.

[czina]

unbelieveable. creepy.
yes. i am thinking about where the borders of art are.

[Caroline]

I think it is a fascinating and through-provoking project. My only reservations are with the images themselves. While gorgeous, I don't feel that they really capture death. I cannot put my finger on it, but they just don't translate the sensations/feelings I had seeing a body.

[Persephone]

I found this incredibly touching - both the images and the stories behind them. I see nothing wrong with the idea or the execution; the subjects agreed to be part of the project, presumably because they wanted to contribute - in life and in death - to a deeper exploration of what it means to live and die.

[Daniel Hertlein]

I was dragged by a friend to see this in Portugal and I have to say I found it, disturbing, thought-provoking, evocative and ultimately illuminating. Everything except repulsive or creepy; which was the exact opposite of I how I thought I would react.

While I agree with Caroline that there was something maybe a little too perfect about some of the images, I was still very moved by the project as a whole. Maybe because it forced me to confront some of my revulsion and fear towards dying and reevaluate it.

We're all going to die -whether we find it repulsive or creepy or not. I think there's a real place for work like this and I'd especially encourage the people who reacted the most strongly against this to check out the whole series if they have a chance.

[Maria K]

Although these photographs are disturbing, the subjects within them allowed the photographer to return upon their deaths to take a second photograph. I don't think this series is perverse, I think that it immortalizes these subjects.

If you think back to photographs taken in the Victorian era of the deceased, they have a similar feel to them. Although they are eerie and make some uncomfortable, they were taken because the family of the deceased person wanted to immortalize them and have a means of remembering them; it was done out to love and not exploitation.

[Rebecca Williams]

Lines from Seamus Heaney's poem Clearances VII come to mind:

Then she was dead,
The searching for a pulsebeat was abandoned
And we knew one thing by being there.
The space we stood around had been emptied
Into us to keep, it penetrated
Clearances that suddenly stood open.
High cries were felled and a pure change happened.
(Heaney, Clearances, VII ll 8-14)