These images are from a book documenting Ossuary's, which are ; "An Ossuary is a chest, box, building, well or site made to serve as the final resting place of skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. a body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary (os is bone in Latin ) The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many people in a single tomb than in coffins" Wikipedia
what interests me is the way they use the bones as decoration, rather than simply stacking them up. Its very macabre. It fits in with my research of the body as decoration, I have, after all, decorated my wall with images of pelvis bones. Beyond this , the skulls are the main thing used, also sometimes the skulls are decorated or engraved with the owners identity.
Just like burial plots , You could buy your way to pride of place via social standing. a lot of people would "donate" their bodies to places of religious prestige, I imagine to be closer to god
in contrast to this I am also looking at the work of Gunther Von Hagen who made " sculptures" out of human remains, by inventing a silicone based chemical to use as an embalmment process to leave a realistic looking body. This is beyond macabre and obviously seen as very controversial and asked the question is it art or science? and is it moral? From a scientific point of view it would serve as an educational tool , however their bodies are posed as enjoying different activities as if living for a public audience at an art gallery.
The similarity is that just like an ossuary people would donate their body for him to use as art, to be a part of something else, in death. Some people, choose to be an organ donor, cremated, or possibly cryogenically frozen in the hope of being resurrected at a future time.
So the connections I'm making concern , the human body and art/ decoration and the body as a vehicle; once it has served its purpose where do you chooses to park it ? religion? science? or art? or nature?
All religions and cultures have a ritualistic approach to death. I think that here in the modern, western world in as a generalisation, death, on a personal/ family level is something that is hidden and brushed under the carpet. we are expected to grieve in private so as not to undo this collective illusion of immortality.
Comments
Post a Comment