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

Subject: Re: [OM] Weddings, Funerals, and other Life Events
From: Winsor Crosby <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 07:42:49 -0800
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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