Where Beauty Softens Your Grief
2008
“If you gotta die, and we all gotta die,
it’s me you want to bury you.
Everybody in Harlem knows that.
I’m the guy who puts a smile on your face.
Other places, you just look dead”
— Isaiah Owens
The Isaiah Owens Funeral Home is in the heart of Harlem, New York. Mr. Owens is an artist, and the corpses are his masterpieces. From the moment they die, the undertaker accompanies the deceased in a process of African American burial customs. With dedication and respect, Mr Owens beautifully prepares the defunct for their after-life. Death often represents a taboo in Western cultures. A taboo that Isaiah Owens challenges every day.
