transmogrification. change. replacing representation.
More specifically, this article deals with death, the manifestation of death, and representation of the dead.
We preserve our dead for as long as possible. Why this happens I have no idea. I am currently struggling with the idea of preserved physical existence. No matter how much formaldehyde we pump into our dead bodies, one cannot retain heat or life. It is as if we are simply salted meat. A residue of life without consciousness. A summation of shit, piss, vomit and skin, coalesced into a whole formed from the accretions of each. Of course, just as the tidy room is realized through a made bed, so must our preserved bodies be cleaned thoroughly and suited up accordingly as if we were attending our own funeral. It must be realized that we celebrate death through the image of life. A representation of the living. It is fallacy which generates provocation. Further to this is the representation of the dead through the institution of the head stone. A marker of previous life. We have gone from life, to death, to dead body, to stone. Stones do not decompose. Flesh does. The stone becomes a manifestation of memory dedicated to the body. As a layer above this, I contemplate the picture of the tombstone. A representation of a representation. If one is to photograph a tombstone, what is the essence of memory inherent to the original body? Is the connection to the body or to the image of the stone.
So, while you are taking a shit, vomiting, pissing or shedding that skin, those fumes are the waste that our inefficiencies profess. I've been to death and back, the trip was long and the t-shirts too small, but the ineffable truths are as vague and irrepresentable as I ever could have imagined. Also, Ian Huff is not a fuckass.
Enjoy!
I shouldn't be advocating an event on June 5th (because there is a massively awesome party starting), but Miike Snow will be in concert at the supermarket in Toronto.
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