We’re excited to check out the recent book published by Reaktion Books. Audrey Linkman’s “Death and Photography” offers not only some great images but some in-depth explorations of the practice of post-mortem photography but also how these photographs have been and can be exhibited.
These are two recently acquired photographs for the collection. Perhaps not conventional attire but hey, you never know – right?
“Culture, it is argued, is not so much a set of things… as a set of practices. Primarily, culture is concerned with the production and the exchange of meanings… Thus culture depends on it’s participants interpreting meaningfully what is happening around them, and ‘making sense’ of the world, in broadly similar ways.” – Stuart Hall. Taken from the Introduction to Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Glasgow: SAGE, 2003. p2.
For those that have visited our previous site, we’re giving it a much-overdue makeover! As the new archivist, I’m excited to be using this blog as a way to document changes in the collection as we move forward with our archival process, new acquisitions, digitizing and exhibitions. Between Anthony and myself, I hope that the MoMP will continue to offer new perspectives on the history of post mortem and mourning photography as well as shed insight on cultural understandings of both life and death. Stay tuned for new research, photographs and updates on how our collection is evolving!