Photography Examines the Relationship Between Life and Death

Brooklyn-based photographer Alex Forsyth investigates life, death and aging with her project This Here Now, which includes three series of images. According to the artist’s profile at artistswanted.org, the project “investigates our failure in self-preservation and self-representation when working against growth, age, change, death, and decay.”

Three Instances represents the passing of time. The first image is the potential of time, the second is time past, and the third is both past and present — life that has not yet passed.

Ashes is an 8-minute looped video that portrays cremation. “The fire purges and recreates the artist’s remains,” explains the artist, “while cremating these becomes an act of self-cleansing.”

Self Portrait in Gold, which is a series of images of a 23-kt gold bust melting into oblivion, reminds us that, “A candle cannot fulfill its purpose unless it burns out.”

See more photography, architecture, design, and other art that examines the end-of-life experience in our Soulful Expressions column.