death becomes her

...red swan.
Originally uploaded by underbunny.

I'm the grandchild of an undertaker (and you thought my interest in graves and graveyards was just prurient). I also have a deep reverence for craftsmen and the tools that are the artifacts of their trade.

Which may be why I'm so taken by the work of underbunny@flickr.

Or it could be the way she gazes, unflinchingly and wonderously, on things that would make most of us turn away.

(Regrettably, she's been inactive at Flickr since about November of last year.)

A comment on one of her most impressive sets reads:

There's no reason at all that we should be so shielded from the details surrounding death. It only makes it more terrifying, unsettling, disgusting, horrifying.

Demystifying death and educating about it is so important. It takes some of the fear and revulsion out of it and makes it what it is, part of each person's existence.

Thanks for sharing these, and helping me over that much more fear.

Here's a link to a slideshow of that set, which is called ...undertaking »

(Be forewarned: It's not for the weak of stomach. But it is astonishing -- and astonishingly beautiful.)