Memento Mori+ David Dunnico

II MEMENTO MORI+ DAVID DUNNICO MEMENTO MORI (a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’) is a series of photographs by David Dunnico. Using contemporary photographic processes, Memento Mori looks at the Victorian romantic vision of loss, grief and mourning, with its rich and clearly defined symbolism. # Memento Mori is not about the living which was celebrating it’s 200th # Thomas Lynch the American poet being ‘haunted’ by the spirits of dead anniversary. He has also produced and undertaker wrote in his book people. Rather, the work looks at how images for this series in Barcelona, Kiev, ‘Bodies in Motion and at Rest’ (pub- people remember those they have lost Prague and Washington. lished by Johnathan Cape, 2000): and how in a sense, the dead continue to # In 2007, Weaste Cemetery the first “The facts of life and death remain the have an existence through the remem- and largest of Salford City Council’s same. We live and die, we love and brance of the living. four municipal cemeteries, celebrated its grieve, we breed and disappear. # For a number of years Dunnico has 150th anniversary. To mark this And between these existential gravities, pictured statues, and funerary monu- anniversary, Salford Museum and Art we search for meaning, save our memo- ments. He visited Paris to photograph Gallery asked David to photograph ries, leave a record for those who the famous Père-Lachaise cemetery Salford’s cemeteries for this exhibition. remember us”. SALFORD MUSEUM&ART GALLERY * Montage of spires from Salford’s four municipal cemeteries III * Montage of figures and tombs from Père Lachaise IV FOR THOSE WE LEAVE BEHIND # Traditionally people were buried in # Ronnie Scott writes in his 2005 book # New rituals and protocols have devel- churchyards, but by the 19th Century about the Glasgow Necropolis ‘Death oped. Funeral services have become these had become overcrowded and by Design’ (Black & White Publishing): memorial services, remembering the life unsanitary. In Paris, Père-Lachaise “…Victorian cemeteries were designed of the person who has died. Prayers and cemetery opened in 1804 and directly to make the living experience particular hymns have been replaced by music that inspired other purpose built garden emotions to provoke certain philosophi- perhaps has more meaning to those who cemeteries such as London’s Kensal cal or religious thoughts… They reflect- mourn. Once certain flowers (poppies Green in 1833 and Highgate six years ed the values and the cultures of the for sleep, lilies for purity), or symbols later. Private companies ran these as living and not the dead”. such as a broken column for a life cut commercial ventures. Soon after, # The Victorians had a strict protocol short, were universally understood. municipal cemeteries such as those built for death and mourning. Today, in our # Now symbolism such as emblems of by Salford Corporation were founded. more secular times, the rites prescribed football teams or even depictions of # It could be argued that this physical by religion no longer give a structure to favourite cars and possessions can be change – the remains of the dead were how the dead should be laid to rest and seen on gravestones. The rituals change separated from church – helped a philo- remembered. Since 1968 there have but the human needs that gave rise to sophical change. People became less been more cremations than burials in them remain the same. In the past those certain of the dead rising and living on Britain – the 100th crematorium in the who were ‘left behind’ were comforted in heaven, or for that matter enduring country was opened in Salford in 1957 with the thought that the dead had gone eternal suffering in hell. Instead death – often there is no grave to act as a to a better place, today people gain sol- became a ‘rest’, an ‘eternal sleep’ or ‘a memorial to the dead. Instead benches, ace by the idea that whilst the dead are relief ’, as the inscriptions on some of bushes and even balloons take the place remembered, their influence continues the grave stones at Weaste have it. of a grave, a stone or an inscription. and their lives still have some meaning. V * Left: Tomb of Oscar Wilde at Père Lachaise, Paris. The marks are lipstick kisses. There is a sign asking fans to respect his memory and not touch the stone * Right: Public grave stone at Agecroft Cemetery in Salford. Note it does not have any names inscribed VI * Three of the life size figures at Père Lachaise The backgrounds on the first two are montages VII VIII These were some of the first images Dunnico took in this series. In particular the image of the young boy inspired most of the photographs which fol- lowed. David said: “I know nothing about him other than he was a young boy named Terrence. I think he may have died in the 1950s and I believe the bust was later stolen”. * From left to right: Dancer, Kiev Uraine Hand, sculpture park, Washington USA Boy, Manchester UK IX X Some symbols remain potent. Angels are supernatural beings found in many religions – intermediaries between god and humans. In Christian cemeteries they are usually depicted as winged women in flowing robes, looking or pointing upwards, ready to escort the dead to heaven. Today, few believe in their literal existence, but the enduring popularity of angels as characters in film and art, shows they still have a resonance for many people. * Top: Angel outside of the Neucamp football stadium in Barcelona * Above: A montage featuring The Angel of the North by Anthony Gormley XI * Above: Detail of gravestone ornament, Weaste XII * Portrait busts Père Lachaise, Paris XIII XIV * Portrait bust Père Lachaise, Paris XV * Montage XVI * Top: Peel Green Cemetery, Salford * Above: Weaste * Right: Weaste XVII * Left: Public grave, Agecroft Cemetery, Salford Right: Angel and aeroplane, Weaste XVIII * Crosses from the four Salford Cemeteries XIX BIOGRAPHY+CREDITS&TECHNICAL DAVID DUNNICO was born in 1964 in Manchester where he still lives. He works on his own long term projects and his photographs have been widely published. His work has previously been seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Imperial War Museum North and the Jewish Museum of London. Memento Mori is his first solo gallery exhibition. # I would like to thank everyone who # You can see more of David’s work # All the photographs were taken using has helped me with this work and dedi- and contact him at: Olympus cameras and lenses including cate it to my partner Sara Smith. OM1n film cameras, CS5060 digital www.dunni.co.uk # Particular thanks go to the staff of compact and E-1 and E400 dSLR. Salford Museum and Art Gallery, # There is also a short film called The images were processed using Apple Salford council workers and the Friends ‘Duppies’ (a West Indian word for Aperture and Adobe PhotoShop. of the Salford Cemeteries. ‘ghost’) which forms part of this work. # Nigel Player and Elaine Parry from You can see it at the exhibition web site: * Produced with Salford Museum and Harman Technology. Art Gallery www.mourn.me.uk # From Olympus UK I would like to * Text and design by David Dunnico thank Mark Thackara, Richard Long * Printed by Trinity Press, Salford * and others for the practical and finan- * The exhibition received funding from: Booklet and exhition sponsored by: cial support which has made the pro- duction of this booklet possible. * Above: Panorama of Weaste Cemetery # Memento Mori (a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’) is a series of photographs by David Dunnico. # Using contemporary photographic processes, the work looks at the Victorian romantic vision of loss, grief and mourning, with its rich and clearly defined symbolism. + www.mourn.me.uk + www.dunni.co.uk * Front Cover: Statues of saints on the Charles Bridge, Prague Back Cover: Weaste Cemetery, Salford.

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