Caleb Wilde
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Posts by Caleb Wilde
THE MAKING OF “IN VOLUPTAS MORS”
WARNING: The following post contains artistic nudity. Although this isn’t pornagraphic in nature, please use caution if you are offended by naked bodies.
If you have interest in death related art, you’ve at least seen the final product of Salvador Dalí’s work floating around your studies and searches. You may also have some understanding of the meaning behind this particular piece. “In Voluptas Mors” depicts the fusion of eros (erotic or sexual love) and thanatos (death). In Greek mythology, “Voluptas” is the daughter of Eros and Psyche and the goddess of “sensual pleasure”. “Mors” was the Roman god of Death (the equivalent of the Greek “Thanatos”). The final image that you will see below presents a fusion of eros (erotic or sexual love) and thanatos (death) in a single object (therefore, in voluptas mors — quite literally one finds “death in the voluptuous”).
The relationship between Eros and Thanatos has been a topic of conversation for Freud, Becker and eco-feminists such as Beverly Clack (author of “Sex and Death”). While interpretations of Eros and Thanatos different, they present two of the most fundamental and stigmatized facets of humanity. Eros and Thanatos are — in a word — scandalous, much like Dali’s work presented below.
If you feel disturbed by the “In Voluptas Mors”, well … that’s part of Dali’s intention. While it’s slightly scandalous now, you can imagine the how it may have been interpreted when it was created in 1951.
So, here’s the process of how the photo was made. It took some three hours to maneuver the models in place. And thankfully, no one ate burritos the night before the photo was taken.
Sometimes the Stars Align: Fulfilling His Mother’s Final Wish
This from Frank Somerville KTVU‘s facebook page.
This is one of the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever seen.
It’s also one of the most heartbreaking pictures I’ve ever seen, because of what happened just 72 hours later.This is Ryan Manning dancing with his mother Mary Ann Manning at his wedding earlier this month.
He says simply:
“It was very special.”The reason it was so special is because three years ago Mary Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer.
And in the past few months her condition got so bad that she was confined to a wheelchair.But there was ONE thing she was determined to do.
She was determined to dance with her son at his wedding.And this is a picture of the two of them as they slowly swayed back and forth to the song, “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”
Ryan says:
“”I think that everybody kind of realized what they were seeing.
And what they were seeing was an incredibly strong woman doing a magnificent thing.
A miracle, I think.”Mary Ann’s daughter Karie says:
“It was incredibly emotional, especially to see her pop out of the wheelchair.
(During) the days leading up to it, we were helping her do everything, even walk, and to see her just jump up, it was amazing.”Mary Ann literally used all her strength to live long enough to dance with her son.
It was almost as if the wedding kept her alive.
Because unfortunately just three days later she died.Her daughter Kristie says:
“To have this moment to cherish and to relive through the video, we’re so happy.
And (we’re so) happy to share that story with other people.
For other people to know what an amazing woman she was.
We’re so, so lucky to call her our mother.”Heather Holmes spoke with the family tonight and we aired their story on the Ten O’Clock News.
Reading about Ryan and his mom is one thing, but seeing them actually dancing together is a whole different story.
And here’s a link if you’d like to watch it:
19 Unusual Deaths
1981: David Allen Kirwan, a 24-year-old, died from third-degree burns after attempting to rescue a friend’s dog from the 200 °F (93 °C) water in Celestine Pool, a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park on 20 July 1981.
1981: Boris Sagal, a film director, died while shooting the TV miniseries World War III when he walked into the tail rotor blade of a helicopter and was nearly decapitated.
1982: David Grundman was killed near Lake Pleasant, Arizona, U.S., while shooting at cacti with his shotgun. After he fired several shots at a 26 ft (8 m) tall Saguaro Cactus from extremely close range, a 4 ft (1.2 m) limb of the cactus detached and fell on him, crushing him.
1983: Truls Hellevik, a diver undergoing decompression aboard the oil rig Byford Dolphin was accidentally exposed to an eight-Atmosphere change in air pressure, leading to instantaneous massive-expansion of his internal bodily gasses, causing him to explode into many small parts which rained down upon the rig; official investigation of the incident led to changes in some diving-bell resurfacing procedures.
1993: Garry Hoy, a 38-year-old lawyer in Toronto, Canada, fell to his death on 9 July 1993, after he threw himself against a window on the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre in an attempt to prove to a group of visitors that the glass was “unbreakable,” a demonstration he had done many times before. The glass did not break, but popped out of the window frame, causing Hoy to plummet 24 stories to his death.
1997: Karen Wetterhahn, a professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, died of mercury poisoning ten months after a few drops of dimethylmercury landed on her protective gloves. Although Wetterhahn had been following the required procedures for handling the chemical, it still permeated her gloves and skin within seconds. As a result of her death, regulations were altered.
1999: Jon Desborough, a physical education teacher at Liverpool College, died when he slipped and fell onto the blunt end of a javelin he was retrieving. The javelin passed through his eye socket and into his brain, causing severe brain damage and putting him into a coma. He died a month later.
2007: Jennifer Strange, a 28-year-old woman from Sacramento, California, U.S., died of water intoxication while trying to win a Nintendo Wii console in a KDND 107.9 “The End” radio station’s “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest, which involved drinking increasingly large quantities of water without urinating.
2007: Humberto Hernandez, a 24-year-old Oakland, California, U.S., resident, was killed after being struck in the face by an airborne fire hydrant while walking. A passing car had struck the fire hydrant and the water pressure shot the hydrant at Hernandez with enough force to kill him.
2008: David Phyall, 50, the last resident in a block of flats due to be demolished in Bishopstoke, near Southampton, Hampshire, England, decapitated himself with a chainsaw to highlight the injustice of being forced to move out.
2009: Taylor Mitchell, a Canadian folk singer, was attacked and killed by three coyotes, the only recorded adult person to have been killed by this species.
2010: Mike Edwards, British founding member and cellist for the band ELO, died when a large round bale of hay rolled down a hill and smashed his van while he was out driving.
2011: Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, died after being stabbed in the leg at an illegal cockfight in Tulare County, California U.S., by one of the birds that had a knife attached to its limb.
2012: Edward Archbold, 32, a man of West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., died after winning a cockroach eating contest. The cause of death was determined to be accidental choking due to “arthropod body parts.”
2013: Takuya Nagaya, 23, from Japan, started to slither on the floor and talk about becoming a snake. His mother took this to mean that he had been possessed by a snake demon and called for her husband, 53-year-old Katsumi Nagaya, who spent the next two days physically beating his son in an attempt to exorcise the demon. This killed Takuya.
2013: An unnamed Belarusian fisherman, 60, was killed by a beaver while attempting to grab the animal to have his picture taken with it. The beaver bit the man, severing a large artery in his leg.
2013: João Maria de Souza, 45, of Caratinga, Brazil, was killed while asleep, by a cow that fell through the roof of his house onto his bed.
2014: Oscar Otero Aguilar, 21, of Mexico City, Mexico, accidentally shot himself in the head while posing for a “selfie” with a loaded gun.
2014: Peng Fan, a chef in Foshan, Southern China, was bitten by a cobra’s severed head, which he had cut off 20 minutes prior. Fan had set the head aside while using the body to prepare a soup. According to investigating police, the case was “highly unusual”. The chef might have had a severe reaction to the bite.
Help Fund the Creation of a Rare Late-Medieval Memento Mori
My friend (and post-grad professor at the University of Winchester in England) Dr. Christina Welch is attempting to revive a Late-Medieval Memento Mori. A 200 year old tree has recently fallen at a local arboretum that Christina has ear-marked should she get the money. Christina is half way there and if she gets more than the £2,000 ($2392.00) we need then the extra will go to the cost of text boards and transporting Guy from Eleanor’s workshop to wherever opts to have it as an exhibition.
Carved cadaver memorials are a specific form of late-medieval monument. Often called a transi which means passed over in French, these unusual memorials images the deceased naked, emaciated and usually lying in an open burial shroud with a strategically placed hand to protect their modesty.
Carved cadaver memorials only appear north of the Alps and in the Uk there are only 41; 38 in England and 3 in Wales. They date from c1420s to 1588 and are connected to Roman catholic after-life beliefs as well as acting as a Memento Mori. Most are full size, all bar one are of males, and the equivalent cost of this memorial is around the price of a top of the range Ferrari today; they might have imaged the individual in a state of humility but they were a status symbol as memorials go and only affordable by wealthy land-owners and high ranking clerics – none of whom would have died in a state of anorexia!
The Carving Guy project is a unique opportunity for people to help fund the creation of a new transi. It will be hand carved from a single price of English wood by Eleanor Crook, a world-leading anatomical sculptor. It is probably the first time in around 500 years that such a carving has been attempted and once done it will form the basis of an international conference and a touring museum exhibition.
The project needs to raise £2000 to purchase the wood and have it transported to Eleanor’s’ workshop. When it is finished it will be over 6 foot in length and will be a modern interpretation of this form of unusual memorial. It will be anatomically accurate , as many of the originals were (quite something when you consider the first was carved around 90 years before the famous anatomist, Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) was born. The project is led by Dr Christina Welch of the University of Winchester, who lectures in Religion, and Death Studies. She has a web site on the English carved cadaver memorials http://carvedcadavers.wix.com/eccm and is currently tweeting photographs of the carved cadavers @ChristinaAWelch.
There is more information on carved cadavers on the Crowdfunding site including a short video the project from Christina and Eleanor. People can pledge anything from £5 and there are a number of incentives for those who donate to the project from a virtual hug and heartfelt thanks, to giclee prints of the preparatory drawings and a special thanks in any accompanying literature, such as exhibition text boards and leaflets, and the book By Christina that is to be published on carved cadavers.
The project can be accessed here http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/guy-the-gaunt
