Role of Women in Post Mortem Photographic Portraiture from its Origins to the Present Day

Abstract

This article makes a historical journey from the appearance of the post-mortem photographic portrait in the nineteenth century to the present day, focusing on women's importance in its birth, development, and survival. Women have always maintained a close relationship with death, both for the symbolic-biological issues, as well as those of practical origin derived from the first: mourn, fix, watch over, and remember them. All this has influenced the feminization of death, especially since the 19th century, which is evident in the post-mortem photographic portrait. In this context, these portraits restore identity, reinforce family ties, and approach the deceased when necessary for proper mourning. The deceased’s photographic image alone or in company is a visual representation that has undergone slight variations over time and contains different functions, in which the representation is intertwined with its material condition and its destiny. In addition, this type of image is a document that gives clues about the different eras with their respective mentalities and unifies them around the loss and its management. In the end, these photographs raise many questions about the lack and its consequences both in the past and present, which is why interdisciplinarity is needed to address them in their complexity.