Dying with a smile - art project by Maurice Heesen

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Most often, people try not to remember death and, in general, to drive away thoughts on this topic from themselves. But the world around us constantly reminds us that we are all mortal, with the help of news programs, films, stories of friends. For centuries, writers and philosophers have speculated about what awaits us next. Photographer Maurice Heesen(Maurice Heesen) decided to contribute to this timeless theme by creating a photo shoot dedicated to the moment of a person's death. Strange feelings when viewing these photographs arise because all dying people smile in his pictures.

I must say right away that the situations in the pictures are staged, not a single person and not a single bone was harmed during the shooting. The photo session itself took place in a cheerful and relaxed atmosphere, which is probably why the smiles of the main characters, in these mini-productions, turned out to be so natural. A whole group of specialists worked on the pictures: make-up artists, illuminators, graphic editors and, of course, Maurice Heesen … The main goal of their work was to create believable images, but without unnecessary, terrifying, details, such that would distract the viewer from the main thing - emotions of the dying. Maurice's photographs are not a mockery of death, but an opportunity to look at the moment of a person's death from a non-standard angle. The photographer reasoned like this: “Each of us is mortal. Everyone knows this, but they try not to think about it and not see death around us, and this is normal. This is waiting for us all. Sometimes, people die suddenly, without even having time to understand what happened to them. But, if you had the opportunity, what would you say or do before leaving forever? It seems to me that the best thing in a moment like this is to remember something good and smile."

It is not known what prompted the photographer to create such a photo shoot, and in general, little is known about the personality of the photographer. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that Maurice lives and works in Amsterdam, and that for more than ten years of his career as a photographer, he has been nominated many times at various photography festivals, such as the Association of Photographers United Kingdom, International Photography Awards, etc. But the work of the photographer is available to everyone: just go to his website and download a file with pictures. Of course, not all of the author's portfolio is presented in it, because he works as a commercial photographer, and cannot publish on the Internet, in fact, someone else's, photographs that are used in advertising for such well-known brands as Nike, Canon, McDonalds … The series of photographs dedicated to death includes just a few photos, most of which Maurice shares on his website.