I've long had the idea of publishing a book on a very personal project that has been worked on since early 2008. Though the work has been primarily done in Chicago, I've been focusing on expanding it in two other states in the coming months. The fine art project has been on family funeral homes in western culture. Though this project has only been seen during my thesis at Columbia College, and have kept dormant otherwise from any public eyes. I think I've been stubborn long enough, and exhausted from seeking publication, that I will be making this public for the first time while I still work on documenting this personal and intimate project.
In the coming months, I will be selecting one image to post on this blog as well as a details of this project, while I restart it.
©Maia Harms 2009
The project, Solace, has always been relevant to me from two areas in my life that have always been important. From the days of high school, I have longed and wanted to go into mortuary science, being pro-founded with anatomy and the science's that evolved around mortuary work. Though I always enjoyed photography, my main intentions were to graduate from high school and attend a college of mortuary science. Tragically, shortly after my high school graduation, I lost my significant other/fiance' to a tragic accident, and halted all intentions of my dreams to cope with my lose, as well as re-figure out my life. While it worked in the latter to fall into photography during college courses, as well as readjust my life to normalcy, I have never kept the idea of one day becoming a mortician later in life, far from my mind. The project was formed once I had found a wonderful teacher, Paul D'Amato, who helped open my eyes and push me into this project that has longed tinkered in my head. I wanted to present to you in all honestly this project from the start, to where this will later becoming..whenever that is.
The project, Solace, has always been relevant to me from two areas in my life that have always been important. From the days of high school, I have longed and wanted to go into mortuary science, being pro-founded with anatomy and the science's that evolved around mortuary work. Though I always enjoyed photography, my main intentions were to graduate from high school and attend a college of mortuary science. Tragically, shortly after my high school graduation, I lost my significant other/fiance' to a tragic accident, and halted all intentions of my dreams to cope with my lose, as well as re-figure out my life. While it worked in the latter to fall into photography during college courses, as well as readjust my life to normalcy, I have never kept the idea of one day becoming a mortician later in life, far from my mind. The project was formed once I had found a wonderful teacher, Paul D'Amato, who helped open my eyes and push me into this project that has longed tinkered in my head. I wanted to present to you in all honestly this project from the start, to where this will later becoming..whenever that is.