Abstract
People in Greece are strongly connected to death culture and traditions. Taking photographs of the deceased used to be one of the most common practices during late 19th and early 20th century. The relatives of the dead often hired a photographer to capture the last portrait of their loved ones. The photographer would usually position the deceased body in such a way that it would appear to be merely sleeping, as a symbol of an eternal sleep. This practice carries perhaps the most important symbolism in almost all religious traditions. This paper examines the reception of the motif of Hypnos (sleep) and Death (death) in Greek postmortem photography. The motif of the “last sleep”, as it is called, reflects the belief in the transition to another world and has its roots in ancient Greece. It associates Thanatos to Hypnos, the twin sons of Night in ancient Greek mythology, the evil Gods as named by Hesiod. This archetype is a powerful evidence of people’s denial of the definitive end of life. Sleep instead of death, preservation of the physical body instead of decay. From an iconographic point of view, the illusion that the dead are asleep is found in all types of post-mortem photographs, from individual close-up portraits to group photographs at funerals, of infants, adults and the elderly.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
POSTMORTEM, PHOTOGRAPHY, DEATH, CULTURE, ICONOGRAPHIC, MOTIF, ART, HISTORY
