The Morgue
I was interested in the morgue as a space, and found it reminiscent as a manifestation of the danse macabre - an allegory in which personifies death. Perhaps this curiosity was due in part by studying forensics in college. I found poetry in the relics and instruments within the space as they lay peacefully after performing, or have been a part of, an autopsy - the "final act" of the corpse participating and engaging with the living before being interred. It was through making this work where I was introduced to the idea that in being in such a space, one must distant themselves from the dead. This is no longer a person, the person has gone into another possible otherworldly existence, and this is the vessel they left behind. In contemporary society, we have created this veil, this distance, between the living and the dead where death has been institutionalized.
During a visit to the morgue, I came across the remains of someone I knew. Or, rather, what was left of her. This idea of distance became contiguous.
During a visit to the morgue, I came across the remains of someone I knew. Or, rather, what was left of her. This idea of distance became contiguous.