“My current thinking is that the human condition is just one experience in a vast, living universe which we only perceive a tiny fraction of.”
Posts Taggedinterview
Interview – Mortician Miranda – Miranda Benge Hummeldorf
“Embalming is not necessary, but its benefits can be remarkable. I have given parents the ability to see their children who were beyond recognizable after a car wreck, and I have let children see their father after he took his own life by shooting himself in the face.”
Interview – Jozef van Wissem – On Death In The Spiritual Domain
“My relation to spirituality has changed during the years. It’s a bit like the path the writer Huysmans took: from satanic to deeply religious at the end of his life.”
Interview – Ross Fraser McLean – Capturing Mexican Death Rituals Through Photography
I asked Ross about his numerous adventures and his near-brushes with death, the things we could learn from Mexican death culture and his visits to over 150 cemeteries.
Interview – Lieke Van Der Voort – When Your Father Commits Suicide
“Suicide makes people uncomfortable as there is not just grief to deal with, but someone wanted this – someone consciously wanted to die, which adds an extra dimension to it.”
Interview – Denis Forkas Kostromitin – Exploring Death Through Occultism And Art
I asked Denis about his relationship with death, the connection between his dreams and the afterlife, and his fascination with dark historical accounts of divine revelations.
Interview – Brian Grainger of Milieu
“A spiritual system I connect to is Pandeism – in short, the idea that whatever God was before the creation of the universe, that the last great creative act of expression for this being was to commit suicide, and in doing so, created the universe as we know it today.”
Interview – Hidden Velvet – Collage Art With A Dark Touch
“I like to think of the afterlife as a new experience; even as a different kind of life. The soul leaves its corporeal form to transcend itself in another place.”
Interview – Amy Haslehurst – Icelandic Folklore Inspired Photography
Amy Haslehurst is a visual artist from Australia, currently residing in Iceland. Through her photography she captures the otherworldly magnificence of the Icelandic landscape and combines this with influences of old dark folklore, to tell stories that often touch upon the subject of mortality. I asked Amy about her own experiences with death and how her ideas inspire her art.
Interview – Bart “Meester Bart” Ongering – On Death Education In Schools
“I don’t think age is tied to losing a loved one. It can happen to anyone, at any time. Children are people too, and they can experience loss at a young age.”
Interview – Lisa Nilsson – Quilled Paper Anatomical Cross-Sections
Lisa Nilsson recreates anatomical cross-sections from small rolls of paper with a technique called “quilling”. The structures generated through this strongly resemble the look and feel of real bone tissue.
Interview – Photographer Ellen Rogers
“Once you face death a few times, you start to realise in whatever capacity that you cannot remain so violently attached to the psychically of transient nature.”
Interview – Mortiis – Håvard Ellefsen On Mortality
Mortiis is the wicked brainchild and band name, as well as the moniker of a goblin-like creature, brought to life by Norwegian musician Håvard Ellefsen. I asked Håvard about his view on mortality and if he can imagine what his funeral will be like.
Interview – Tom Six – On Confrontations With Death Through The Horror Film Genre
Dutch movie director Tom Six is best known for his horror trilogy ‘The Human Centipede’. I asked Tom what inspired him to make this, and how he really feels about the inevitable human end of human life that comes with death.
Interview – Janno Hahn – Gravestone Typography
Dutch artist Janno Hahn is a “typo-graphic-designer” who combines his own distinct style of typography with graphic design in his numerous projects, varying from printed typefaces to tombstones.
Interview – Christian Fuchs – Ancestor Worship Through Art
Christian Fuchs is a Peruvian artist who gives new meaning to the concept of ancestor worship. Through his photography he transforms himself into his relatives by creating self-portraits inspired by their portraits and paintings.
Interview – Elisa Pesapane – Danse Macabre
I had a humbling conversation with Elisa about her two stillborn daughters, processing these experiences through creativity, and the idea behind her stunning Danse Macabre drawings.
Interview – Hans Op de Beeck
Mesmerizing installations, sculptures and films are only a few of the mediums through which multidisciplinary artist Hans Op de Beeck reflects on our complex society and the universal questions of meaning and mortality that resonate within it.
Interview – Arnon Grunberg
“Life to me is sacrosanct. I’m not against abortion nor against euthanasia, but the thought that life is an obligation, that life must be lived, comes closest to my feelings about it.”
Interview – Laurie Lipton
Through her drawings, Laurie confronts the viewer with complex existential subjects and invites him to explore the true nature of everyday reality.
Interview – Roger Ballen
Roger’s work reflects an exploration of existential subjects and invites the audience to go on a journey within themselves. I sat down with Roger and asked him about his experiences with death, and how the theme of mortality is embedded in his life and art.
Interview – Alexander Binder
German artist Alexander Binder was born under the perfect morbid circumstances: on Halloween night, in the midst of the famous Black Forest in Germany. Drawing his inspiration from symbolism and the occult, he uses vintage lenses and other optical accessories to manipulate reality and capture its shadow side.
Interview – Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis is a graphic novelist and author, known for his acclaimed comic book series ‘Transmetropolitan’ and his best-selling novel ‘Gun Machine’. I picked his brain on morbid matters and his own contemplation of death.
Interview – Colin H van Eeckhout – Amenra
“The biggest life lesson I got from my father came with his passing away in my arms. He taught me never to give up and to fight hard for everything that’s dear to me.”
Interview – Laura Bochove On Being A Mortician
“Death has always fascinated me. By the age of 11 I knew I wanted to become a mortician. People generally thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care. I thought death was something endlessly intriguing and beautiful.”
Interview – Chris Girard On His New Media Death Poem
Chris Girard is an LA-based artist and writer, or, as he prefers to call himself, “a hustler with a Ph.D”. I asked him about his video death poem “Shadow Shadows Tomb” and his thoughts about death.
