Death Is The Mother Of Beauty

October 15, 2016 5:24 PM

There are many artists, usually great ones, who are able to push themselves to their limit to experience life and death for their art. Especially with death, many people feel extremely uncomfortable with its trappings – the pungent scent of decay, the multiple hues of flesh rotting, the insects who make bodies their homes – and it takes a true artists’ eye to see the beauty in these things: Sally Mann's Body Farm Photography [photos of decomposing human bodies]

Sally Mann previously
Body Farms previously and previously

posted by Johnny Wallflower (9 comments total)

I found it disturbing that the bodies just looked dumped, rather than placed with ceremony. But perhaps that's the point of a body farm.
posted by Nelson at 6:02 PM on October 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yup, the idea is to replicate how bodies are left/ found "in the wild," so crime scene investigators can better understand the process of decomposition under different circumstances to estimate a time and means of death. (Wikipedia, if you want to know more.)
posted by filthy light thief at 6:42 PM on October 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

These photos are not nearly as horrifying as I expected them to be. Some of the bodies' skin looks waxy or almost plasticky, like it's not real.
posted by a strong female character at 6:42 PM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:50 PM on October 15, 2016 [7 favorites]

"These photos are not nearly as horrifying as I expected them to be. Some of the bodies' skin looks waxy or almost plasticky, like it's not real."

That is exactly correct. I've spent some time with corpses and that's something which always struck me, as well. Suspect the natural oils which lubricate the skin are congealing and give the flesh that look. Not sure and never bothered to find out.

That said... These are beautiful and so tasteful. Would love to see the originals.
posted by artof.mulata at 7:37 PM on October 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Adipocere is the waxy substance formed on corpses under certain conditions. Also one of MeFi's own.
posted by TedW at 7:54 PM on October 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

No. Just because you are framing a picture "just right" does not make this right. This is desecration in the name of art. This is someone's mother, father, sister, brother, son.....death is ugly. The dead deserve better than become an object. Photos in the name of science and study is one thing but the other is shameful.
posted by shockingbluamp at 3:16 PM on October 16, 2016

If there's desecration in how the bodies are situated or displayed, it's by design since that's the point of the body farm - and it's been done with the consent of the families and perhaps the explicit pre-death consent of the deceased.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:28 PM on October 16, 2016 [7 favorites]

Death just is, shockingbluamp. We're all headed there. Seeing actual death rather than movie and TV death is grounding. Respectful photos like these help me, at least, come to terms with my own inevitable cessation.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:56 PM on October 16, 2016 [2 favorites]