Untitled (postmortem image of middle-aged woman wearing large bow in casket) 1955

Curator: This is an untitled postmortem photograph by Martin Schweig, part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. Editor: It’s somber, naturally. The stark black and white, the stillness… quite unsettling. Curator: Postmortem photography was a common practice, part of the visual culture and mourning rituals of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Look at the labor involved, though, to create these mementos. The processing of the photograph itself, the ritual of preparing the deceased… Editor: It speaks to how death was visualized and commodified within social structures. The photograph provided a tangible representation of loss and memory, a way for families to confront death in the home, before its management became industrialized. Curator: Absolutely. The act of preservation, through the photograph, attempts to defy the very material reality of decay. Editor: Precisely. The public display of grief intersects with the private experience of mourning. It is fascinating, and, frankly, unnerving. Curator: Yes, a stark reminder of how social context fundamentally shapes our understanding of mortality. Editor: Indeed. The photograph becomes a site where social memory, grief, and representation collide.