This was a first sort of get together with everyone in the group, so we began by talking about our own perception of death and then death within our work. Everyone has a very different view, and although you might think, well yes of course they would, it is not until you hear it that there are SO MANY different views and ways that you can look at death.
I said that in my work i am looking at the fear of death and where this fear stems from. i am also interested with the fact that photos always seem to evoke death, there is that constant thought that there is always something missing. Then my personal peception of death: yes it can be scary, but it shouldn't. As in the words of Gandalf, "End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take."
Then someone else spoke about death and how they were okay with a dead body. They had grown up in a catholic community and when someone died, it was tradition to kiss the deceased person. This made death to them a familiar subject, one that they were okay to recognise and respond to.
A few others said that they were not comfortable with the idea of being forgotten, they want something of themselves to be immortalised when they are gone. That their true death is when people stop thinking or talking about them. It is when the memory of them is gone, then they are truly dead. This was an interesting concept, as it's something we can all relate to - not wanting to be forgotten.
Then the other main point was preparation. Is it easier to see and experience death when you know it is coming? For example if someone has Alzheimer's or cancer, opposed to someone who has a car crash or a blood clot. I believe it is easier to accept and see death when you know it is coming because more often than not it creeps up on you fast.
These are all very literal moments of death, there is also the death of a culture, the death of a child when they mature or the death of friendships. Is death an end or a passing?
Goodreads, 2014. a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien. [online] Available at: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/701843-pippin-i-didn-t-think-it-would-end-this-way-gandalf [Accessed 15 Dec. 2014].
I said that in my work i am looking at the fear of death and where this fear stems from. i am also interested with the fact that photos always seem to evoke death, there is that constant thought that there is always something missing. Then my personal peception of death: yes it can be scary, but it shouldn't. As in the words of Gandalf, "End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take."
Then someone else spoke about death and how they were okay with a dead body. They had grown up in a catholic community and when someone died, it was tradition to kiss the deceased person. This made death to them a familiar subject, one that they were okay to recognise and respond to.
A few others said that they were not comfortable with the idea of being forgotten, they want something of themselves to be immortalised when they are gone. That their true death is when people stop thinking or talking about them. It is when the memory of them is gone, then they are truly dead. This was an interesting concept, as it's something we can all relate to - not wanting to be forgotten.
Then the other main point was preparation. Is it easier to see and experience death when you know it is coming? For example if someone has Alzheimer's or cancer, opposed to someone who has a car crash or a blood clot. I believe it is easier to accept and see death when you know it is coming because more often than not it creeps up on you fast.
These are all very literal moments of death, there is also the death of a culture, the death of a child when they mature or the death of friendships. Is death an end or a passing?
Goodreads, 2014. a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien. [online] Available at: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/701843-pippin-i-didn-t-think-it-would-end-this-way-gandalf [Accessed 15 Dec. 2014].