Photograpy, Mixed Media
While in the Peace Corps in Malasia the early 1970s, Laura observed a funeral ceremony involving burning paper replicas of the departed and all the things that the departed might need in the next world, such as money, liquor, a car, and even a house. This series considers life from the perspective of paper replicas themselves, which were photographed in life-like situations. In the words of the artist:
“On the mainland of China, since the advent of the people’s government in 1949, many ancient practices like ancestor worship have been considered decadent. But among many overseas (Nanyang) Chinese communities, the clan and family have clung tenaciously to old customs and practices concerning the dead. In ceremonies such as these, the heirs or clan of the deceased seek to ensure that his spirit passes into the otherworld as smoothly as possible and that [he] should reside there in luxury. Since the otherworld is in some respects much like this world, it is thought that the deceased will need money, houses, cars, servants, etc. This was accomplished originally by burning actual servants and effects along with the dead person. Today, fake money and furnishings are burned instead, and paper replicas of servants [are] made for ambient spirits to embody temporarily. These servant-replicas are inscribed with the deceased’s name, so that when they too are burned their spirits will be released to wait on the deceased in the otherworld. Not much has been written about the nature of the spirits of these servants while they are inhabiting their paper bodies, but surely they do not just sit idly by waiting for their incineration. Since the otherworld is considered so much like our own, perhaps the lives of these paper people are also much like our own. The following is a photo essay about the lives of two of these spirits–spirit one and spirit two–and what they did with their brief time in their paper incarnations.”
