Julia was married to a wealthy businessman who lost his fortune on gambling and alcohol before eventually taking his own life.
But social status and prestige were very important to Julia, so she was always immaculately dressed with jewelry and heavy makeup.
Julia lived to be 89 years old.
POSTHUMOUS
The inspiration for these paintings comes from the Ma’nene ceremony in Indonesia, where families open family graves, bring out their dead relatives, dress them in nice clothes, celebrate the rice harvest with them and take pictures with them before putting them back in their graves. Honoring one’s ancestors in this way is believed to bring good luck.
This ceremony seems very far-fetched in our Western culture, but it inspired me to create a series of “posthumous portraits”.
What if we took portrait photos of our deceased relatives?
Could we sense their past lives and living personalities in them?