ALIVE: In The Face of Death

Image © Rankin, with thanks to Walker Art Gallery

"Death; we can deny it and medicine can delay it, but it is life's only certainty. Despite this, it remains the ultimate taboo in British society today"

Yesterday, to celebrate the fact that our birthdays at the Bucket Project fall within days of each other, we took an educational trip to the Walker Art Gallery to have a look at their new exhibition.

ALIVE: In The Face of Death by photographer Rankin is a collection of photographs of people who have been touched by death in one way or another. You might associate Rankin with his photographs of people like Kate Moss, The Queen and Madonna, but this exhibition stems from a personal connection with death that Rankin felt after losing both of his parents. He wanted to confront the fears he had around death. The first thing that hit us when we walked in was how personal and intimate every photograph felt, so far removed from the images of celebrities usually associated with his work.

The contrast of the people featured is stark, ranging from those who are faced with terminal diagnoses to those who have survived tragedies like the London bombings of July 2007, and people who work within the death industry. We particularly loved this image of local lads Sam and Dan Lloyd, who both have muscle wasting disease Duchene muscular dystrophy. They have a life expectancy of around 25, but at 17 they exude such a love for life and passion we couldn't help but feel really inspired by them. Even Rachael, the Blue half of The Bucket Project, felt like she could get on board with their football passion despite it being for Liverpool FC!

Image © Rankin, with thanks to Walker Art Gallery

We loved the photographs of Rankin with his face painted like Mexican Day of the Dead masks, all in bright colours and beautiful designs. It evoked the ideas of death being a celebration and not something to fear, of it being a gateway to something else entirely that could be brightly coloured and beautiful; a far cry from the monochrome funereal images we often see when thinking of the ways we remember the dead.

Image © Rankin, from Liverpool Echo

There were two particularly interesting parts of the exhibition that made us think. On one wall is a collection of "life masks" - masks of living celebrities cast in the style of ancient Egyptian death masks. It was haunting to see imagery usually associated with the dead juxtaposed with people who are very much alive, including contemporary celebrities such as Joanna Lumley and Abbey Clancy. On the opposite wall is a collection of portraits of people working in the "death industry" such as a grave digger, a palliative care consultant and most interestingly a group of Ghanian professional mourners. We didn't even know that professional mourners existed, and it was eye opening to learn about the funeral traditions of other cultures.

The exhibition is breathtakingly powerful. The way Rankin presented his subjects in ways that were personal to their own battles was evident in each portrait. 23 year old Fran wanted to be photographed with butterflies because "They move so effortlessly and so gracefully…they’re the opposite of me. They’re free, whereas I’m not", and Sandra Barber wanted to portray her inner warrior to show the strength she had drawn from to fight breast cancer. Every single photograph has a detailed story beneath it, and it's impossible not to feel incredibly humbled and inspired by the outlooks these people have developed to cope with the enormity of being touched by death.

Outside the exhibition is a wall covered in brightly coloured Post It notes from visitors, sharing their views on the exhibition. It was fantastic for us to see people talking about death so openly, especially the people who wrote that it had made them think or talk about death for the very first time.

Me (Lucy) writing on the response wall

We definitely recommend that you catch this exhibition before it finishes in September. If we were to sum up the entire essence of our project in one room, this exhibition would most definitely be it. Seeing death personified in the faces of people who have come close to it and even lost their fear of it was certainly an empowering experience.

If you do end up going to see it, be sure to let us know what you thought.

ALIVE is at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool until 15 September 2013.
#AliveXRankin