Phoenix

(2021 — in progress)

Russian funeral culture is like a phoenix bird. Such a similitude sometimes comes to mind when I think about the past, present and future of this culture. Constant destruction, rebirth and attempts to build a funeral culture again. Pre-revolutionary necropolises, spontaneous Soviet cemeteries and new crematoriums of pure white forms. And, of course, Phoenix is a fire.

What funeral culture is not yet known. But at least it is heterogeneous and sometimes eccentric. The visual embodiment of grief and loss can be unexpected and unique. From «well okay he died» to attempts of sublimation of all the concern for the deceased through various funeral attributes. Or the creation of diamonds from the grandmother's ashes. It remains to understand whether this is a diamond or still a grandmother. Perhaps we will be able to get to the disclosure of this secret by watching a video about her life on the screen of a digital monument.