Representing absence and the absent one : remembering and longing through mourning photography

Abstract

Exploring different practices of photographing / representing the dead, this dissertation, deals with the question how the deceased loved ones are remembered and longed for through photography in the context of family. Approaching mourning as a long-term experience in the life of mourners, the primary objective of this dissertation is to analyze the alterations of the absence/presence of the mourned one in mourning photography, using photographs found from archives and antique markets as primary source material. In the light of the critical literature on photography, studies of material culture and memory in relation to photography and classical and contemporary mourning studies, this dissertation aims to expand the parameters of the discussion on the relationship between different types of photography and mourning, remembering, longing for, and bidding farewell to the dead and to refine a new area of study concerning death photography in Turkey