Last Goodbye
The Body Politic
Documenting Southern funeral traditions
By Christopher C. Fisher
Project: The Body Politic
Artist: Christopher C. Fisher
Description: The term The Body Politic reflects the collective experience of a community bound by shared rituals, none more profound than the process of a funeral service. It is within this sacred ceremony that individual loss transforms into communal mourning. The eulogy, spoken with trembling sincerity, becomes the voice of the body politic, echoing the life and legacy of the departed. As pallbearers carry the casket to a horse-drawn carriage, they enact a symbolic procession of unity, strength, and duty.
The journey to the final resting place mirrors society’s path through grief—a solemn reminder of mortality and memory. Among the mourners, no pain runs deeper than that of a mother mourning her child, a heartbreak that fractures the spirit of the collective whole. Yet, even in sorrow, there is hope. The release of white doves signifies the soul’s return to heaven, reminding us that while the body may perish, the spirit remains eternal, carried forward by the love and resilience of the community left behind.
Neighborhood
Carried by 8
Last Man to Let You Down
The Commital
Birds Flying High
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