Life Before Death, 9 April-18 May 2008
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Use the arrows on the right to view a selection of photographs from the exhibition.
All images: Walter Schels.  1 of 9 |
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Edelgard Clavey, age 67
“I want so very much to die. I want to become part of that vast extraordinary light. But dying is hard work.” 2 of 9 |
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Maria Hai-Anh Tuyet Cao, age 52
“Death is nothing. I embrace death. It is not eternal. Afterwards, when we meet God, we become beautiful.” 3 of 9 |
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Heiner Schmitz, age 52
“Don’t they get it? I’m going to die! That’s all I think about, every second when I’m on my own”. 4 of 9 |
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Michael Lauermann, age 56
"I really loved life. Now it’s over. I’m not afraid of what’s coming." 5 of 9 |
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Barbara Gröne, age 51
"All my efforts were in vain. It is as though I am being rejected by life itself." 6 of 9 |
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Jens Pallas, age 62
Sister Dagmar could not detect any signs of a final struggle for breath. Nothing, save for the startled look, as if he had wanted to say: What? Was that it? 7 of 9 |
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Wolfgang Kotzahn, age 57
“Now I see everything from a totally different perspective: every cloud outside my window, every flower in the vase. Suddenly, everything matters.” 8 of 9 |
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Klara Behrens, age 83
“I’m not afraid of death. I’ll just be one of the million, billion grains of sand in the desert.” 9 of 9 |
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24 sets of photographs taken before and after death
Nothing teaches us more about life than death itself. Journalist Beate Lakotta and photographer Walter Schels asked 24 terminally ill people if they could accompany them during their last weeks and days. From these vigils came a series of insightful descriptions and photographic portraits taken before and after death.
Far from being gloomy, these intimate concerns of the dying reveal the preciousness and transience of life, and make us question what we often take for granted.
