ARTIST

Taken within a cremator, the images aim to confront the taboos surrounding death imagery in modern society.

'Incandescence' presents death as an art form, allowing the viewer a dual perception: an initial visual perception on a purely aesthetic level, followed by a secondary mental perception informed by the title and closer inspection of the images.

The main concept driving this project was to afford death portraits, of natural deaths, a place in the art gallery amongst all other images of life events. She fills the void that exists in the modern art gallery with regard to the representation of death.

Death is inevitable but frequently avoided by image-makers. The ‘final’ photograph is no longer prevalent in family albums. Her photographs, in addition to being evidence of the human condition, are aesthetically pleasing allowing the viewer to linger and reflect without feeling uneasy. Maeve Berry explores this visual void, demystifying and stripping back all material trappings - bones laid bare to reveal beauty in the thing that we fear the most.