Afterlife Studies
The disintegration of all things
We are all layered elements, of light and water and fire, formed from dead stars that exploded and coalesced into this planet and all the life found here. This interconnection and cycle of life and death is what I am always looking for. Through my photography I create ghosts of one subject within another. I weave together sea pebbles and light beams or succulents and pond water so I can show the simultaneous decomposition and recomposition that happens around death and birth.
Both my death, and the double exposure in my photographs, are marks of transformation, not cessation— an afterlife made out of life, that recognizes this unknown instead of making a fruitless guess at what happens after death.
And yet, what is just as mysterious to me as what will happen when I die, is my life, my existence, and the distorted reflections in my images. My photographs don’t claim to shed light on the mystery of an afterlife. Rather, my images acknowledge that while I feel existence is inexplainable, I can still find shadow and light, and mesmerizing plants, and tide pools.
See daily studies on my Instagram, @hannahsuzanna.
Photography
