Re: [OM] Weddings, Funerals, and other Life Events

[Winsor Crosby]

> I can't understand photographing the dead body itself,
> but sometimes funerals are the only times families get
> together to see each other and I can understand why
> some people might want photgraphs of their rarely seen
> relatives. I've been to a lot of family funerals (My
> gandfather had 3 of em: 1 where he died, one where he
> lived all his life and one where he was buried) In
> each one my mom was taking pictures (this was before I
> was interested in photography very much) to chronicle
> the event, but we don't have one pic of my grandpa in
> the coffin and my aunts and uncles and cousins
> welcomed those pictures.
>
> Mark Lloyd
While photos of the dead may be strange to most Americans it is a 
long tradition in some European countries.  I saw an exhibit in the 
Los Angeles Contemporary Art Museum a few years ago called "Memento 
Mori" which was a collection of such pictures.  It was interesting. 
At the end of the exhibit I was still repulsed, but an exhibit of 
strangers from another time made it into something different than it 
was for relatives of the deceased.  I would assume that the photos 
perform the same function for absent relatives that " the viewing" or 
open casket perform for those present, sort of visual reinforcement 
that the person is gone and allowing for closure and grieving.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California

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