The Representation of Death in Photography Project "Book of the Dead" by Arsen Savadov

Student: Musikhina Nataliia

Supervisor: Elizaveta Berezina

Educational Programme: Cultural Studies (Bachelor)

Year of Graduation: 2018

"The Book of the Dead" is one of the most scandalous projects by Ukrainian photographer Arsen Savadov. Compositions of corpses conceal a lot of symbols and translate a certain image of death. In present work, photos of death are analyzed since XX c. to our days: from postmortem portraits of Victorian era to modern projects dedicated to death. They trace the transformation of death and its features in Western and Russian contexts. The image of death in the photo project "The Book of the Dead" has a unique character, combining all the traditions of postmortem photographs. The usual methodology of researching the photography is not relevant in this case. That’s why photographs of the dead require an individual approach to study. In this regard, the work includes methods of studying photos by R. Barthes, C.Sontag and P. Shtompka.

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