Selected Before Need

Colma CA, 2011

Cemeteries have been photographic subjects since the invention of photography itself. Southworth & Hawes’ daguerreotypes of Mount Auburn in Cambridge recorded the country’s first rural cemetery using the first photographic technique. Well known “masters” such as Atget, Weston, Adams, and Evans have all photographed cemeteries, as have innumerable amateurs and hobbyists. These photographers have concentrated on the interiors of cemeteries, varying their configuration of stone crosses and angels. Occasionally, surrounding buildings and objects are included within the composition, but the central concern has always been the evocative expression of poignant symbolism.

Standing at the edges of urban cemeteries facing outward, my back is turned on monuments, grave markers, and landscape design. My back is also ideologically turned against the sentimentality and romanticism programmed into the content of cemeteries. The act of photographing such content reproduces and reinforces the mythology of the cemetery, i.e. religious mysticism, commemoration, and a softening of death, whereas photographing the edge re-engages the cemetery with the surrounding reality.

St. Louis, 2011