Death and Rebirth: Images of Death in Sicily

Abstract

Photographs were often taken during funerary ceremonies in Sicily. Local photographers were commissioned to document funerals as if they were christenings, communions or wedding ceremonies; and it is no mere coincidence that in funeral portraits the relatives arranged around the coffin assumed postures similar to those seen in photos of festivities. This tradition of taking photos during such mixed occasions gives the images a profound significance and highlights the archaic roots of the popular ideology of death as a continuum of life.