Death After Life

Today while looking for interesting articles to tweet about for my company, I came across an interesting read on wired.com called "Hotels for the Dead: Mausoleums Reveal Spectral Light and Kitsch Decor". It's about a photographer by the name of John Faier who goes around to different Mausoleums and takes pictures of them. Most are from the 1950s and caught his eye because of the "saccharin and somber" quality of them.

These photos are hauntingly beautiful and caught my eye. They also made me start to think about how we dress up areas around death to make them more appealing. There's the example of these beautifully decorated mausoleums, putting flowers on the grave or even when we put nice clothes and make up on the bodies. This isn't a modern idea either. Societies have been dressing up both the bodies and the grave sites for centuries.

The greatest example of this would be the ancient Egyptians. They believed that you went into the afterlife how you were in the present life so the dead were dressed to the nines and put in lavish tombs.  The Mayans did the same thing with their burial mounds.

If you have a few minutes click on the link above and view the rest of the photos. You will not be disappointed.


Photo by John Faier