Photography of death

MetaFilter draws our attention to the tradition of memorial, or postmortem, photography.  These are not haunted images necessarily, or even generally.  They are about locating, controlling, and maintaining the presence of the dead, pinning down the rebellious historicity which is the essence of ghosts.

Instead, such images are usefully kept in mind alongside more typically haunted media, as a baseline against which the fantasy works.

Meinwald's rich article has this fascinating quote, pointing towards a quiet narrative tradition:

The only indication that the subject is dead is the presence of special symbols, recognizable to the nineteenth century viewer. A rose held downward or by a broken stem indicates a life cut short, as does the presence of morning glories--flowers that bloom, wilt, and drop from the vine in less than a day. A boat on calm water symbolizes an easy death, on stormy water a difficult one. A watch indicating the time of death might be prominently featured. More obvious indicators, like tombstones or weeping willows, are also sometimes employed.

Comments

[Ceredwyn AlexanderC]

Post mortem photography always creeps me out. However, some years ago I couldn't make it to a funeral and I had someoen who did attend take pictures of the corpse. At the time, we (a bunch of the decedents geeky freinds) talked about webcasting the funeral, but never brought it up to the family for fear of causing offense. Now, some funeral homes are offering it as a service. Once again I'm ahead of the curve

http://www.universaltechnologiesinc.com/fcam.htm

[Gilmor]

Try thanatos.net ... more than 500 post mortem photos.