A Brief Story on Post-mortem Photography

In Latin American culture, the first days of November are when people pay tribute to the memory of loved ones who have passed away. It seems appropriate for me to tell you a bit about a now- eerie topic about deceased loved ones and photography. Of course, I’m talking about post-mortem photography — also known as memento mori — a Victorian photographic genre that was popular back in the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Basically, photographs were taken of deceased loved ones; post-mortem photography had nothing to do photographing violence, crime, or war. Doing something like this today is almost unimaginable (at least, for the vast majority of cultures) so if you watch this fascinating video, viewer discretion is very much advised. Nowadays, this type of photography is more used for scientific and criminological applications that for family portraiture.

Portraiture through painting was an extreme luxury in the 18th and 19th centuries. With the invention of the daguerreotype in 1839, portraiture was made more accessible, but was still a luxury, and people rarely had photographs of themselves or close relatives. Family portraits were also scarce.

How was the genre born?

During the nineteenth century, death was seen as a part of ordinary life, and it was common for death to occur in homes instead of in hospitals or clinics. Since images of relatives and loved ones were scarce, people tended to think that a photograph of a deceased relative or loved one was preferable to…