Capturing the Spirit of Death

MyWishes is a free to use technology platform. We help to normalise end of life conversations and the use of technologies for death and dying.

Technologies have been a part of death and dying for thousands of years. The headstone is an early example of how someones final resting place would be marked with a large stone and often inscribed.

During the reign of Queen Victoria and with the emergence of cameras many people believe that photograph would capture and in-prison the subject’s soul. Early photographs where take with a long exposure and movements would often result in the photographs having a ghost like figure appear or the spirit leaving the person’s body.

The MyWishes team find this fascinating and we decided to explore this subject matter when speaking and exhibiting and the Ideal Death Show. We invited the attendees to strike a, still and somber pose. After a few seconds we asked them to move around at a slightly faster pace and then to move our of shot. Photos were captured on a long shutter speed and captured in black and white.

This was a playful way to explore a Victorian concern about death and the technological invention called, ‘the camera’.

Over the course of three hours we took photos of attendees. By allowing participants to be playful with an area relating to death and dying, we hope that the subject matter of death became a little more approachable. We would like to thank the Good Funeral Guide for inviting us to speak and “do something experiential” at this wonderful event.