Life Before Death At The Wellcome Gallery

For over a year, journalist Beate Lakotta, 42, and photographer Walter Schels, 72, interviewed and photographed 24 terminally ill people in hospice. After building relationships with the subjects and their families, they took photographs of the subjects shortly after their deaths, posed in the same positions as they were during their "alive" photos.

The result is Life Before Death, an exhibition at London's Wellcome Gallery that sheds light on the subjects' thoughts and attitudes about living and dying. Each subject is portrayed in two side-by-side black-and-white photos with quotations and interviews on display. Lakotta and Schels have said that it is important that photos were not frightening.

"We didn't want the portrayed to be anonymous people – which would be just a projection surface for the observer," Lakotta said. "It's crucial that they are experienced as individual persons with a name and story."

Lakotta has said the motivation behind the project was their fear of facing up to death. The pair have been together for 12 years and admit to having a being afraid of the fact that one of them will die first. Schels's home was bombed during World War II when he was nine years old and his experiences seeing burned bodies and torn-off limbs made him fearful of death and dying.

They say that they are still afraid of dying but now recognize the importance of living in the moment. 

Dazed Digital: Have you had negative reactions to the project?
Beate Lakotta: Some asked us if it's voyeuristic to show dead people. Our answer was: No, or at least our intention is not a voyeuristic view, which keeps the viewer always distant. Our view is an empathic one – the viewer gets involved in the fate of the individuals. And that's the effect of the texts. They tell the stories in between the two pictures that is often more disturbing than the pictures themselves.

DD: All of the subjects had to sign legal releases and their families had to agree for them to do the project. Was everyone involved cooperative? 
Walter Schels: If somebody would not have been cooperative or happy to participate, we would not have taken his portrait and would not have accompanied him, indeed. We never took a portrait too if a relative didn't like the idea.

DD: What was the most difficult part of the project?
WS: The psychological aspect. It's hard to listen to all these stories. Very often we felt helpless and didn't know how to behave, for example in moments of absolute sadness or pain.

DD: How did the subjects feel about being photographed after death?
WS: Some of them had the idea that their life hadn't been meaningful at all. In being portrayed they had the opportunity to leave at least a trace. Others wanted to help the hospice movement. And some of them said: I like the idea that somebody will care about me when I'm dead and will look at my face. It's better than to simply disappear in a coffin.

Life Before Death runs from 9 April until 18 May at the Wellcome Gallery, London. Lakotta and Schels will speak at a one-hour talk about the project at the gallery on 10 May.

Image Gallery