BURYING THE ENEMY: THE NAZI GRAVES OF PORTUGAL

Funerals, archeologists claim, are almost as old as humanity itself. It is seen as a given that we will send our dead into the unknown with respect. But what if some people’s lives are beneath celebration? What if the body in the casket belonged to a violent criminal, or a terrorist, or a member of an oppressive political regime? Rafaela Ferraz tells a little known story about this very question. 

October 13, 2018 | Blog

Faces of Death: Katrina Spade

Our series, Faces of Death, showcases the death revolutionaries we are fortunate enough to work with here at The Order. This month, meet Katrina Spade, who is developing a new form of death care that transforms bodies into soil, so that we can return to the earth after we die. 

September 5, 2018 | Blog

Deathstagram

People are using Instagram in innovative and meaningful ways, especially when it comes to the subject of death. 

August 15, 2018 | Blog

Dying Queer in 2018

Guest writer, Daniel R Wilson, investigates what it’s like to die, queer, in 2018. 

August 8, 2018 | Blog

The Stained and Sordid Scene: The Dead of Antietam

The impact and legacy of the first photographs depicting the casualties of the Civil War, which “brought bodies and laid them in our dooryards and along the streets,” is examined in a new exhibit. 

August 1, 2018 | Blog

Am I too attached to a long-dead Portuguese serial killer?

While traveling through Portugal to research her country’s display of dead bodies, Rafaela Ferraz develops a unique connection to a pickled head in a jar, prompting her to consider our society’s fascination with, and even adoration, of serial killers. 

July 25, 2018 | Blog

YEAR OF ACTION: The Good Death Art Show

Artist Abby Rocha curated a death positive art show in an effort to create a space where both artists and the public could come together and explore the subjects of death and mortality. Here are some of her favorite pieces. 

July 18, 2018 | Blog

The Macabre, Unknown Origins of Father’s Day

The Monongah Mine Disaster is recognized as the worst industrial disaster in U.S. history– and you’ve likely never heard about it. The disaster occurred in my hometown of Monongah, West Virginia. On… 

June 16, 2018 | Blog

1918: The Forgotten Year of Death

No other epidemic or pandemic has claimed as many lives as the Spanish Flu, not even the Black Death in the 14th century or AIDS in the 20th century — 100 years later, why have we forgotten the deadliest pandemic in history? 

May 30, 2018 | Blog