![]() The Victorian consumer images, alchemically toned on well-processed paper stock have survived for over 150 years and offered a window into a confronting social reality of the mid- to late-19th century. The images have survived because they were made on materials that have stood the test of time. Memento mori images were made because of the combination of social conditions, affordability and technological development. Witkin is said to have developed his work after a childhood confrontation with a decapitated head rolling towards him after a car accident. Only in the work of contemporary photographers such as Joel Peter Witkin do we see the dead arranged as if in still-life composition. In the age of the narcissistic selfie, the area of memento mori has not been approached. Can you imagine a three-year-old child being asked to sit and hold their dead brother or sister while a photograph is made? I am certain there is a law somewhere that would not permit such an act. It’s the images of propped-up dead children, siting or standing with their still living siblings or parents, that have proven to be the most confronting to us in our era.Ī living girl poses with her dead sister.įamily portraiture that included the recently dead would be shockingly confrontational to us in our global north first world reality. The deceased of the ruling class, comprising significant social, religious and political leaders were also photographed, a practice that was still in evidence in the 20th century, with images of leaders such as Lenin and Mao Zedong.īut it has been the personal images of the Victorian ear that have resonated with us. The deceased were technically good subjects. ![]() The lens and the daguerreotype took an extended time to capture and record light and people needed to sit or stand very still for the time it took to record their likeness. Photography of the late 19th century was a complex process requiring large cameras, availability of natural light and extensive chemical processing. In fact the memento mori photograph may have been the only image ever made of the deceased, or of their family. The deceased were arranged on a bed as if asleep, or with their favourite toy if a child, and with other members of the family in a final family photograph. When a family member passed away they were dressed up in their Sunday best and the photographer was called to make a memorial keepsake for the family.īoth the parents in this picture are slightly blurred from movement only their daughter is captured crisply. Post-mortem portraiture became a common practice. The memorial portrait became the poignant repository for memories, feelings and emotions. In very short order the photograph became a technologically determined artefacts, evidence that a specific person or object existed at a specific time and place in history. It was now a subject the general population, via photography, could approach and they did so directly, personally, and emotionally, by representing their recently departed loved ones in photos. This meant the practice of reflecting upon one’s mortality and the transient nature of life were no longer the exclusive domain of the Church or philosophers. ![]() Practical photographic practices are said to have started in 1839 with the invention of the daguerreotype images that captured and kept light on a permanent substrate. This child has been posed with his favourite toys.
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