Dead Woman Posed at Wake in Rocking Chair and Wedding Dress

Latest

80-year-old Georgina Chervony Lloren hung out at her own wake in San Juan, Puerto Rico this Monday after passing away over the weekend from natural causes. She received mourners not from a casket, but from a rocking chair where she — dressed in her wedding dress — had been propped into a sitting position.

The viewing took place at Marin Funeral Home, a mortuary known for creating “dioramas” with the dead. Past funerals have displayed the corpse of a young boxer standing in a boxing ring and a motorcyclist atop his bike. Georgina’s arrangements were made with her daughter Miriam Chervony, who says the plans were talked over with her mother in advance.

Posing the dead as if they’re living isn’t anything new. Memorial portraiture has been around for as long as long as the camera. (Fun fact: back when having a photo taken cost a lot of money, deaths were one of the few events that poor and middle class people would shell out money to hire a photographer for.)

In the U.S., post-mortem photography is no longer in fashion, but the trend continues elsewhere. Personally, I’m less creeped out by the idea of it and more curious about what my death diorama would be. (“Madeleine died as she lived: Curled up in the fetal position and yelling at an episode of Game of Thrones.”)

Image via the AP.

 
Join the discussion...