I have used some of the text from this page on the public-facing website I created for the exhibition, which can be seen here.
Death is the great equaliser; it comes for us all, regardless of wealth, status, or power. It's an unchangeable fact of life, yet we often shy away from confronting it head-on. When we lose a loved one, the reality of mortality hits home with staggering force. The pain of grief runs deep, leaving us searching desperately for solace and comfort in the face of overwhelming loss.
To manage our grief, we are often drawn to rituals and traditions as they offer a sense of closure and peace. In cemeteries, we find solace in the timeless rituals of paying respects, laying flowers, and offering prayers (The Elms, 2021). Here, enveloped by the quiet serenity of marble gravestones, we find a tangible connection to those we've lost and, more widely, to the shared human experience of life and death.
Funerals in the UK tend to be a very solemn and understated event, but this was not always the case. Queen Victoria famously mourned her husband, Prince Albert, by wearing black for the rest of her life (Royal Museums Greenwich, 2021). Her influence led the public to adopt elaborate and public mourning practices, turning funerals into "grand spectacles, reflecting social status and wealth" (Burrett, 2023). This legacy is still visible in the grand cemeteries around the country, with ornate tombstones, magnificent sculptures, and chapel stonework adorned with intricate carvings. Funeral services were highly religious, and the deceased were commonly interred in church graveyards.
In contrast, contemporary funerals are often more private and intimate, attended by a small group of loved ones, and are frequently more simple and secular (Burrett, 2023). Cremation has become more common, with the decedent's ashes typically kept in an urn by immediate relatives or scattered in a meaningful location. Mourning and remembrance have shifted from being public spectacles to more personal and private expressions.
The first cemetery I visited was in Madron, near Penzance, which I stumbled upon on my way to Lanyon Quoit. As I walked among the graves, I was immediately struck by how overgrown some of them were, as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 (above). Cornwall Council maintains most of the closed churchyards and cemeteries in the county, mowing the grass three times a year on average (Cornwall Council, 2023). However, individual plots and memorials typically fall under the responsibility of the deceased's loved ones. This made me wonder: who cares for our resting places once our families are gone? If all that remains of us is a memory, how long until that memorial in the graveyard is forgotten, the writing on our headstones becomes too weathered to read, and our existence is lost to time? Many of us want to leave a legacy, but in just a few short generations, we too may rest under overgrown, forgotten grave markers.
After visiting Madron, I sought out another place I had heard about: Barnoon Cemetery. Located atop a hill in St Ives, Barnoon overlooks Porthmeor beach and over to the Chapel of St Nicholas on the headland. I never expected to find such peace among the gravestones - it is common to feel discomfort in these places - but as I sat reading the inscriptions and listening to the breaking waves, I found Barnoon to be a beautiful place to rest.
The three headstones depicted above, embellished with religious iconography and delicate carvings, were all photographed using the same camera settings but edited differently to achieve distinct visual effects.
Figure 4: I opted to swap the red and blue channels to bring out a more natural colour palette. This accentuates the cross, making it stand out prominently against the blue sky.
Figure 5: I made slight adjustments to the white balance and levels, keeping the image close to its original appearance straight from the camera. This minimal editing approach enhances the eerie atmosphere.
Figure 6: For this image, I also used a red/blue channel swap, but then adjusted the green channel to red. This created a fantastical pink hue in the grass. Interestingly, the moss on the stone also turned pink, resulting in an edit that feels a bit too whimsical for such a solemn setting.
In addition to photographing individual headstones, I wanted to capture some wider shots of the cemetery, especially its view over the sea. Although it was a beautiful day with clear skies, which is ideal for infrared photography, the position of the sun cast a harsh light on the back of the gravestones, obscuring the inscriptions on the front in shadow. Figures 7 and 8 (above) illustrate this well. These images naturally have high contrast because the chlorophyll in the grass strongly reflects infrared light, making it appear bright white to the camera. In contrast, the sky and sea absorb infrared light, resulting in a much darker background. Since I set my infrared filter to approximately 720nm for these images, they are mostly desaturated. However, some red light was allowed through, and when the white balance was set to the grass, this created some blues in the lichens and mosses, enhancing the ethereal, other-worldly atmosphere.
Figure 8 is almost monochrome, and brings to mind Simon Marsden's eerie graveyard images (The Marsden Archive, n.d.). I had thought about trying to emulate his signature halo effect in this image, but I am unsure how to achieve this through Photoshop. Instead, I applied Rob Shea's Orton Effect action (Shea, 2021) which softened some of the harsh textures on the stones and added a faint glow to the lightest areas of the image. This has not created the same distinct supernatural aura as in Marsden's photos, but instead a subtle indication of the spiritual.
Another interesting aspect of infrared photography is that different materials reflect infrared light in varying amounts; what your eyes see and what the camera captures can differ significantly based on the materials, as I learned from Adrian Davies' book (Davies, 2017, p.126). This is evident in Figure 9 (above), where one headstone stands as a shiny monument among its highly textured neighbours. To the eye, there was nothing visibly different about this grave, but it is likely made of a different material than the rest.
Some burial plots are more ornate than others, possibly reflecting the wealth or status of the deceased. This highlights how these memorials serve the living more than the dead - do the cemetery occupants really care about the type and cut of stone they rest under? Are they concerned with the size or polish of their grand monuments, or are they content simply resting near the breaking waves? In contrast, living relatives decorate these graves with embellishments and meaningful symbols. With an outpouring of grief, they cling to their loved ones through heartfelt inscriptions and return to mourn at this final place of connection. In this connection, they find peace.
In the images above, I experimented with various channel-swapping options to create a serene depiction of this resting place. I found that Shea's standard red-blue swap in Figure 11 made the scene appear somewhat cold and lifeless. Conversely, setting the green channel to red in Figure 13 added excessive warmth to everything. Figure 12, where the green channel is split between blue and red, strikes the perfect balance and adds warmth to the image without transforming the scene into a fantasy land.
The images above depict a beautiful stone angel, photographed and edited in various styles. This weathered, lichen-covered statue captivated me, sparking curiosity about its story. As I sat watching the waves break on the shore below, I imagined her as a beacon for those lost to the sea, standing tall to guide their souls towards rest. Perhaps she serves as a guardian to the ones buried beneath her, ensuring their safe passage into the immortal realm. Rather than serving as a transformational metaphor for freedom, as angels do in Francesca Woodman's self-portraits (The Art Story, 2017), this angel watches over the dead. Romanticised speculation aside, angel statues are common in graveyards and often provide comfort during moments of grief. Their position or expression can convey different meanings, and an angel with an arm reaching upwards, as in these images, often symbolises the angel escorting the departed's soul to heaven. (Verity, 2024).
These infrared photos tell a story of loss that transcends grief and heartbreak. They evoke a sense of mourning, but also of peace. The ethereal quality of the images suggests a realm where the departed find solace and tranquillity and emphasises the importance of mourning rituals in helping the living find closure.
References
The Art Story (2017) Francesca Woodman photography, bio, ideas, The Art Story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/woodman-francesca/ (Accessed: 23 February 2024).
Burrett, J. (2023) A Journey Through the History of Funerals in the UK, Legacy Funeral Directors. Available at: https://legacyfunerals.co.uk/history-of-funerals.html (Accessed: 01 June 2024).
Cornwall Council (2023) Closed Churchyards, Cornwall Council. Available at: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/parks-leisure-and-culture/parks-and-open-spaces/closed-churchyards (Accessed: 01 June 2024).
Davies, A. (2017) Digital Ultraviolet and Infrared Photography. 1st edn. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1567265/digital-ultraviolet-and-infrared-photography (Accessed: 20 February 2024).
The Elms (2021) UK Funeral Traditions, The Elms Funeral Directors. Available at: https://www.theelmsfuneraldirectors.co.uk/uk-funeral-traditions/ (Accessed: 02 May 2024).
The Marsden Archive (no date) The Marsden Archive. Available at: http://www.marsdenarchive.com/ (Accessed: 20 February 2024).
Royal Museums Greenwich (2021) Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Royal Museums Greenwich. Available at: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/queen-victoria-prince-albert (Accessed: 01 June 2024).
Shea, R. (2021) Updated Photoshop Actions for Color Infrared V3, Rob Shea Photography. Available at: https://blog.robsheaphotography.com/2021/08/07/update-photoshop-actions-color-infrared.html (Accessed: 10 February 2024).
Verity, E. (2024) What is the Significance of the Angel Headstone?, Memorials of Distinction. Available at: https://www.memorialsofdistinction.co.uk/useful-guides/angel-headstone-what-is-the-significance (Accessed: 01 June 2024).
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