About Me

I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!

Instagram Shots

    See more

    More liked posts

    Spooky shots of volunteers wearing nothing but white sheets at the Festival of Skeletons… taken to mark Day of the Dead For a man whose career is taking pictures of naked volunteers, these photos will hardly be shocking. But to the average viewer these shots by Spencer Tunick - taken early morning at the Festival de Calacas (Festival of Skeletons) in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico - will be rather spooky. Mr Tunick, 45, used the eerie landscape of Los Senderos village and 150 volunteers in white sheets for his ‘Spirits’ project, to mark the Day of the Dead - which pays tribute to people who have died. Mr Tunick, who was born in 1967 in Middletown, New York, trained at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan before studying at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been creating astonishing human art installations for the past 20 years, gathering hundreds or thousands of naked volunteers, aiming to create scenes where humans blend with landscape. One memorable previous effort saw him photograph 1,800 naked people arranged in the coloured seats of the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna, Austria, which hosted the Euro 2008 football final. Mr Tunick boasts on his website that he has been arrested five times while trying to work outdoors in New York City since 1992, with the last of these coming in 1999 in Times Square, Manhattan. However Mr Tunick was so desperate to continue working on New York’s streets that he filed a lawsuit against the city to protect himself and participants from future arrests - which he won. But his website adds that he has not worked on the streets of New York in a decade, after he was rejected when applying for his first New York City permit after winning his case against the city. Now it seems Mr Tunick has found a soft spot for travelling south to work in San Miguel de Allende. He told the New York Times in June of this year: ‘I head down to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico quite often these days where I have learned to appreciate a good tequila like Casa Dragones.’

    Spooky shots of volunteers wearing nothing but white sheets at the Festival of Skeletons… taken to mark Day of the Dead

    For a man whose career is taking pictures of naked volunteers, these photos will hardly be shocking.

    But to the average viewer these shots by Spencer Tunick - taken early morning at the Festival de Calacas (Festival of Skeletons) in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico - will be rather spooky.

    Mr Tunick, 45, used the eerie landscape of Los Senderos village and 150 volunteers in white sheets for his ‘Spirits’ project, to mark the Day of the Dead - which pays tribute to people who have died.

    Mr Tunick, who was born in 1967 in Middletown, New York, trained at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan before studying at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

    He has been creating astonishing human art installations for the past 20 years, gathering hundreds or thousands of naked volunteers, aiming to create scenes where humans blend with landscape.

    One memorable previous effort saw him photograph 1,800 naked people arranged in the coloured seats of the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna, Austria, which hosted the Euro 2008 football final.

    Mr Tunick boasts on his website that he has been arrested five times while trying to work outdoors in New York City since 1992, with the last of these coming in 1999 in Times Square, Manhattan.

    However Mr Tunick was so desperate to continue working on New York’s streets that he filed a lawsuit against the city to protect himself and participants from future arrests - which he won.

    But his website adds that he has not worked on the streets of New York in a decade, after he was rejected when applying for his first New York City permit after winning his case against the city.

    Now it seems Mr Tunick has found a soft spot for travelling south to work in San Miguel de Allende.

    He told the New York Times in June of this year: ‘I head down to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico quite often these days where I have learned to appreciate a good tequila like Casa Dragones.’

    The Belly of the South: Bumpy reception in seaside town for Hirst’s ‘disgusting’ 65ft pregnant woman Some call it the Angel of the West; others deride it as the Belly of the South. But, whether they like it or loathe it, the people of Ilfracombe are now the custodians of this giant Damien Hirst sculpture – and they’ll be looking at it for the next two decades. The 25-ton bronze statue of a heavily pregnant woman holding a sword, arrived in the Devon seaside resort yesterday on a flatbed trailer. Hundreds of residents came out to catch their first glimpse of the work, which will take more than a week to assemble and install.  Fans call it a ‘modern allegory of truth and justice’, but many townsfolk say it is ‘obscene and disgusting’. Well, I think she is really beautiful - if Ilfracombe don’t want it, I’ll take it! You can read the rest of the article here and if you’re interested in Verity’s fabrication and installation, then you can read about that here!

    The Belly of the South: Bumpy reception in seaside town for Hirst’s ‘disgusting’ 65ft pregnant woman

    Some call it the Angel of the West; others deride it as the Belly of the South.

    But, whether they like it or loathe it, the people of Ilfracombe are now the custodians of this giant Damien Hirst sculpture – and they’ll be looking at it for the next two decades.

    The 25-ton bronze statue of a heavily pregnant woman holding a sword, arrived in the Devon seaside resort yesterday on a flatbed trailer.

    Hundreds of residents came out to catch their first glimpse of the work, which will take more than a week to assemble and install. 

    Fans call it a ‘modern allegory of truth and justice’, but many townsfolk say it is ‘obscene and disgusting’.

    Well, I think she is really beautiful - if Ilfracombe don’t want it, I’ll take it! You can read the rest of the article here and if you’re interested in Verity’s fabrication and installation, then you can read about that here!

    Awesome Life of Light Graffiti Skeletons

    We’ve seen light graffiti before, but none as lively as these skeletons by Los Angeles-based Darius Twin (aka Darren Pearson). Twin began light painting since 2008, after seeing an image from Gjon Mili that captured Pablo Picasso creating a light drawing called Picasso Draws A Centaur.

    Often times, people assume that Twin’s images are photoshopped, but they are not. He pioneered the light painting technique of spinning a glass prism in front of the camera while shinning light into the lens to create rainbow prismatic circles.

    “Every movement is tracked precisely, and getting any recognizeable form is difficult,” says Twin. “At the end of a blindly illustrated 5 - 7 minute exposure, you either have an image that works, or a luminous tangle with the disjointed parts of what you’ve intended.”

    artandsciencejournal:

    Luciano Podcaminsky

    In this work, Sundead, Luciana Podcaminsky reveals the results of our behaviour. In this visual pun, the artist demonstrates what happens when one uses sun beds—cancer and even possible death. What makes this work powerful is how it shows what we conceptually know in a way that makes it real. Just as a smoker can look at the warning symbols and “know” that it will kill them, it takes a real visual confrontation or knowing someone else who has died, in order to fully understand and feel the impacts. So much of our knowledge is not true understanding. For example, I can say I conceptually know what a billion dollars is, but for me to truly understand how much money that is, I would need to see it stacked up in a room. Humans aren’t dumb, but written words can only do so much. Sometimes true knowledge is a feeling or a presence, and Podcaminsky has done it just right. For more of his works, click here. 

    - Lee Jones 

    (via thespianoge)

    • Posted 8 months ago
    • September 13th, 2012

    495 Likes & Reblogs

    EAT YOUR HEART OUT 2012 Beyond delighted to say that Eat Your Heart Out 2 will be held in the St Barts Pathology Museum in London from October 26th – 28th. Working closely with the wonderful Carla Valentine, EYHO is going 100% anatomically correct & educational on your arse. If you want pretty labels on your cakes saying what flavor they are then don’t come… In their place will be some information on the very body part you are about to eat a delicious cake version of. They’ll also be the ultimate cake pathology lecture focusing on REAL conditions such as maple-syrup urine disease, icing sugar spleen and nutmeg liver. Lots more secrets yet to be revealed so be afraid, be very afraid… Lung cancer cookies below are from Nevie Pie Cakes (and will be on sale in the space if I can persuade her)! Cake makers wanting to take part then the full brief is here – the pathology theme is fairly open so please fell free to send me over any ideas you have. Eat Your Heart Out is a non for profit organization supporting the art of cake making all brand support welcome. Now anyone for an icing sugar spleen?… I am SO there! This sounds absolutely bloody amazing!

    EAT YOUR HEART OUT 2012

    Beyond delighted to say that Eat Your Heart Out 2 will be held in the St Barts Pathology Museum in London from October 26th – 28th. Working closely with the wonderful Carla Valentine, EYHO is going 100% anatomically correct & educational on your arse. If you want pretty labels on your cakes saying what flavor they are then don’t come… In their place will be some information on the very body part you are about to eat a delicious cake version of. They’ll also be the ultimate cake pathology lecture focusing on REAL conditions such as maple-syrup urine disease, icing sugar spleen and nutmeg liver. Lots more secrets yet to be revealed so be afraid, be very afraid…

    Lung cancer cookies below are from Nevie Pie Cakes (and will be on sale in the space if I can persuade her)!

    Cake makers wanting to take part then the full brief is here – the pathology theme is fairly open so please fell free to send me over any ideas you have. Eat Your Heart Out is a non for profit organization supporting the art of cake making all brand support welcome.

    Now anyone for an icing sugar spleen?…

    I am SO there! This sounds absolutely bloody amazing!

    This life-size glass skeleton is illuminated by krypton Krypton, being what chemists call a noble gas, glows when it’s housed inside of a gas-discharge lamp. Craft the lamp’s glass into specific letters and you get luminescent signage —like a red, neon “Open” sign. Hand-shape your own glass, however, and you can create something way more interesting than a boring old window sign. Case in point: Embodiment. That’s the name of the arresting sculpture pictured here. Crafted by Portland-based sculptor Eric Franklin, Embodiment took over 1,000 hours to produce. The sculpture stands at 78-inches tall, and actually comprises 10 separate pieces. Each component had to be sculpted individually by flameworking borosilicate glass before being carefully assembled into the full skeleton you see here. So beautiful. Click through to read the rest of the article and for more STUNNING photographs.

    This life-size glass skeleton is illuminated by krypton

    Krypton, being what chemists call a noble gas, glows when it’s housed inside of a gas-discharge lamp. Craft the lamp’s glass into specific letters and you get luminescent signage —like a red, neon “Open” sign. Hand-shape your own glass, however, and you can create something way more interesting than a boring old window sign. Case in point: Embodiment. That’s the name of the arresting sculpture pictured here. Crafted by Portland-based sculptor Eric Franklin, Embodiment took over 1,000 hours to produce. The sculpture stands at 78-inches tall, and actually comprises 10 separate pieces. Each component had to be sculpted individually by flameworking borosilicate glass before being carefully assembled into the full skeleton you see here.

    So beautiful. Click through to read the rest of the article and for more STUNNING photographs.

    'Death has not required us to keep a day free'

    For the Love of God, Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull, has already become one of the most talked about works of art in recent years, but what was the inspiration behind it? With a major retrospective of his work currently on show at Tate Modern, Hirst reveals its Mexican roots…

    sfreedman:

    Human bones take part in an artistic project against violence

    Francois Robert purchased some old metal lockers several years ago at an auction, and one of the lockers contained real human bones, so he figured out that he had to use them in some way.

    The result was to make different shapes that are 6 feet wide by using the bones – a project he called “Stop the Violence” that will make others aware of the violence caused by wars. The shapes are mostly inspired by war and ideologies, and they are everything from guns and bombs to the signs of the different religions. The shapes look really clean and neat because the white bones are in a great contrast to the black background.

    (via longlivethelies)

    The thought-provoking ‘tooth fairy palace’ In the chilly studio of Liverpool-based artist Gina Czarnecki, a fantasy palace has taken shape. It is a riot of towers and tendrils, resembling something out of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. It has been christened the Tooth Fairy Palace, but like many fairy tales, all is not as it seems as it has been designed to raise awareness about stem cell research and its implications. The palace will gradually become encrusted with real teeth - the teeth of children. Amazing! Click the photo to read the rest of the article.

    The thought-provoking ‘tooth fairy palace’

    In the chilly studio of Liverpool-based artist Gina Czarnecki, a fantasy palace has taken shape.

    It is a riot of towers and tendrils, resembling something out of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.

    It has been christened the Tooth Fairy Palace, but like many fairy tales, all is not as it seems as it has been designed to raise awareness about stem cell research and its implications.

    The palace will gradually become encrusted with real teeth - the teeth of children.

    Amazing! Click the photo to read the rest of the article.