Corpse Photography

[Corpse_Ecstasy]

These are some photographs by a photographer who I admire greatly: Joel-Peter Witkin. He has over-come the taboos that exist in the world of art and does this with remarkable grace and poetry, using the deceased as a means of surreal, outspoken views on death, art and the lens.

[phee]

Wow.... I think you just won the most gothiest thread ever award!

[Corpse_Ecstasy]

Wow.... I think you just won the most gothiest thread ever award!

How dark of me!

[JaneDead]

Wow.... I think you just won the most gothiest thread ever award!

agreed

[ManicQueen]

Only good art is dead art... thanks for posting those!

[GothicRavenGoddess (3)]

very unique. very morbid

i LIKE! (not something I'd have framed, in the living room, perhaps the home office, tho) but i do like the originality of it. thanks for posting!

[phee]

[pomba gira]

Interesting... thought-provoking... but I dunno, it seems a bit disrespectful to me. Like the artist is just goofing on these dead folks. I believe this could be done in a respectful way, but... it wasn't here.

[tanuki1985]

Interesting... thought-provoking... but I dunno, it seems a bit disrespectful to me. Like the artist is just goofing on these dead folks. I believe this could be done in a respectful way, but... it wasn't here.

That was kind of what I thought at first. :S

[punk_princess]

Interesting... thought-provoking... but I dunno, it seems a bit disrespectful to me. Like the artist is just goofing on these dead folks. I believe this could be done in a respectful way, but... it wasn't here.

i agree

[Corpse_Ecstasy]

Interesting... thought-provoking... but I dunno, it seems a bit disrespectful to me. Like the artist is just goofing on these dead folks. I believe this could be done in a respectful way, but... it wasn't here.

He's not trying to be disrespectful though.

What he projects is the spirituality of the corpse, the mystery of it, the taboo of it overcome.

You have to read into his photographs as if you are reading into deep poetry, what meets the eye isn't as black and white as it appears.

Remember, these are empty bodies, he uses that as a vessel for art sake and to project his spirituality behind his lens.

In a biography of his, he tells this story when asked how he views what he does with corpses :

"There's this great story I know about a wanderer somewhere in a desert. He's walking along, and he hears the smashing of steel and rocks in the distance. He goes out there to where the sound is, and two men are crushing stones in the heat. He approaches one, who seems very, very angry, and he's cursing. The wanderer goes up to him and says, "What are you doing?" The man says, "I'm breaking the stones." The wanderer approaches the other man. This one is also smashing rocks, but he's not angry. The wanderer says, "What are you doing?" The man responds, "I'm building a cathedral."" - J.P. Witkin

There are some people out there, who, when they die, WANT to be photographed by him, as they see it as an honor.

Most of the corpses he uses he receives consent from the family of the dearly departed. The others, well, they are the nameless bodies that are never claimed or who die without family.

[aequorea]

There are some people out there, who, when they die, WANT to be photographed by him, as they see it as an honor.

Most of the corpses he uses he receives consent from the family of the dearly departed. The others, well, they are the nameless bodies that are never claimed or who die without family.

where can i go to get more info on the artist?

the photography certainly walks a fine line... i would have to know that the bodies were being used with permission of the former inhabitants before i could look at it purely as art.

btw, did anyone see the human body exhibit while it was at the detroit science center? it was pretty amazing to wander through rooms of dissected corpses. of course, there were all sorts of issues about how they obtained the bodies for the exhibit, which is what brought it to mind.

[~PurpleThistle~]

So do you know this guy personally or could he be...WAAAHAAAAAWAHHHHHAAAAA .....

......The serial killer next door?..lol

[Destroit]

where can i go to get more info on the artist?

the photography certainly walks a fine line... i would have to know that the bodies were being used with permission of the former inhabitants before i could look at it purely as art.

btw, did anyone see the human body exhibit while it was at the detroit science center? it was pretty amazing to wander through rooms of dissected corpses. of course, there were all sorts of issues about how they obtained the bodies for the exhibit, which is what brought it to mind.

Man...at the Science Center? None of those corpses gave their consent, they were deceased inmates from other countries. And by other countries I mean China.

[Msterbeau]

Very provocative, for sure.

When I shoot... I like live models better. Even if they do have a deathly paleness. ;-)

[jynxxxedangel]

Here are some photos I have taken of dead things.

The first (though a bit grainy, it was with my old shit camera) is a deceased Northern Pike fish I found on the beach (Wolverine Lake). I thought the contrast in textures between the toothy dead fish and the sand was interesting.

The second is of a mallard duckling on the same beach. I watched another female duck with ducklings pick off almost all those of another female last summer. She would basically chase them down, and crush them with her weight-- then finish them off by shaking them violently in her bill. I have never seen this behaviour in ducks before. This photo was taken to represent the tragic cruelty of nature, and the heart-rending loss of a young life which had barely begun..

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I don't see it as art, at all. Distastefully and disrespectful come to mind.

[aequorea]

Man...at the Science Center? None of those corpses gave their consent, they were deceased inmates from other countries. And by other countries I mean China.

there was a lot of gossip and controversy over that. i looked into it, and here's my understanding of the situation: some of the bodies used in the exhibit were unclaimed corpses. of those unclaimed corpses, some of those came from prisons.

the use of bodies in art and research is definitely a sensitive issue. because the former inhabitants can't comment, there is always the possibility for the abuse of human rights - as in, going against the beliefs/opinions/religion/desires of the deceased. it would be reassuring to see documentation for the provenance of bodies, but that would mean publicly identifying the deceased, and some may find that to be even more tasteless/upsetting/offensive.

[CandyQuackenbush]

Here are some photos I have taken of dead things.

The first (though a bit grainy, it was with my old shit camera) is a deceased Northern Pike fish I found on the beach (Wolverine Lake). I thought the contrast in textures between the toothy dead fish and the sand was interesting.

The second is of a mallard duckling on the same beach. I watched another female duck with ducklings pick off almost all those of another female last summer. She would basically chase them down, and crush them with her weight-- then finish them off by shaking them violently in her bill. I have never seen this behaviour in ducks before. This photo was taken to represent the tragic cruelty of nature, and the heart-rending loss of a young life which had barely begun..

Now where is there any beauty in those? It's a dead fish and a dead baby duck. That isn't the cruelty of nature, that is the cycle of life. What can't survive, won't. Plain and simple.

[Scales]

I associate art more with living emotions, this just serves as empty shock value to me. *shrug*

[sass_in_the_pants]

I also find it disrespectful.

MOST of these people gave their consent?

And the rest were unclaimed? All the more reason not to exploit them.

I saw the exhibit at the Detroit Science Center.

We were told they were all 'volunteers' from China. Which means they weren't volunteers.

I have two thoughts on the exhibit:

1. Underneath our skin, we all look like bacon.

2. Someone should just bury these people and let them be at peace.

And I have to agree with Scales...it seems like it was done just to be shocking. And how unshocking is that?

[Onyx]

It's an interesting concept, but I have to agree - the way it is done it does seem disrespectful.

I associate art more with living emotions, this just serves as empty shock value to me. *shrug*

Exactly.

[Corpse_Ecstasy]

I also find it disrespectful.

MOST of these people gave their consent?

And the rest were unclaimed? All the more reason not to exploit them.

I saw the exhibit at the Detroit Science Center.

We were told they were all 'volunteers' from China. Which means they weren't volunteers.

I have two thoughts on the exhibit:

1. Underneath our skin, we all look like bacon.

2. Someone should just bury these people and let them be at peace.

And I have to agree with Scales...it seems like it was done just to be shocking. And how unshocking is that?

Here's the thing...you know the very friendly, giving people who sign the back of their ID's and Driver's License for organ donations?

Well, when those people donate their organs, they not only donate them so that people can have kidneys and hearts, like we all nicely have come to believe.

They actually sign them selves completely over to science! (I have studied mortuary science and any mortuary science book will state this, even though most organ doners don't realize this upon signing up for this most of the time).

And, by doing this, mortuary schools, experimentations done on cadavers can do whatever they please to these deceased organ doners. Including, for educational art purposes (such as the lovely gentleman whose exhibit was at the Detroit Science Center).

In order to learn about human anatomy, some pretty gruesome stuff is done to our dead...stuff that you and probably most anybody who isn't well immersed into this world of mortuary would call "disrespectful", tasteless"...but it has to happen so we can further our knowledge about how our bodies function and...dysfunction.

How do you think doctors know whats what inside our bodies? The don't dissect live humans, they dissect dead ones.

Did you know that some cadavers have been used as crash test dummies?

Why they used cadavers is because, cadavers have soft organs and realistic parts...plastic crash test dummies don't. therefore using real human parts is more accurate when testing out collisions and the effects the collisions have on human bodies.

These experiments SAVE lives.

As far as Witkin, well, that's why I said he is a taboo.

Most of his deceased models are consented from families in other countries, such as Mexico, and some European countries, where, death is celebrated, not shunned.

Think what you want of him...thats the point in his work :-)

[Corpse_Ecstasy]

I associate art more with living emotions, this just serves as empty shock value to me. *shrug*

Its not intended for shock value...that's a pretty dull take on his work...

You can't just look at something and call it art...or call it un-art "empty shock value."

Art is something you examine, something you have to review in your head (even if you don't like the art, it does not mean that it immediately loses the title of art).

Living emotions? Death is a part of the life process...without death, life does not exist and vise versa, for each defines the other. Death, also, provokes and invokes very real, living emotions in people : sorrow, rejoice in the after-life, a milestone.

As I said, America is the one country that really doesn't celebrate death...

Look at what he uses with the corpses : books, fruit... material things used while living (no caskets, burial sites or mourners). There is a strong symbolism to his work, you just have to have a mindset for it.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Art is like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder.

When my best childhood friend died, he donated his organs. He was a perfectly healthy 25 year old man except for a heart defect he had since birth. His lungs, kidneys and liver were harvested. His body is in the cementa in Vestaburg. Not in some art show.

I really think that if people knew that by signing a card to donate organs... save other peoples life... if they knew that they could end up in a circus sideshow.... they would not sign the card. I really hope your wrong. If your not, it's deceitful in the extreme.