The Guardian recently published [article/interview with photographers] a griping series of photos : “Life Before Death” [link to photographs themselves]. Intimate, poignant, and beautiful, the photos complete the cycle of living – dying in a way I’ve never before seen. You will no doubt be moved by them but in what way, I can’t say. I found myself studying the faces in life, trying to see inside the subject (subject sounds cold, it’s not meant that way…) The text which accompanies each photograph compels you forward throughout the 22 photographs online. Take a deep breath and click on the “Life Before Death” link above. Then read what Walter Schels and Beate Lakotta say about the project. Your day will change… perhaps, as with me, it will knock the wind out of your lungs.
This sombre series of portraits taken of people before and after they had died is a challenging and poignant study. The work by German photographer Walter Schels and his partner Beate Lakotta, who recorded interviews with the subjects in their final days, reveals much about dying – and living. Life Before Death is at the Wellcome Collection from April 9-May 18
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