In this essay I will ask the question of whether post-mortem photography is still acceptable in modern society. I will examine the history of postmortem photography and compare it to the more contemporary response. The practice of photographing deceased relatives or friends was publicly acceptable in Europe until around 1880, with photographs of corpses displayed openly in American homes and professional photographic studios advertising these services. Post-mortem photography, photographing a deceased person, was a common practice in the 19th century. and early 20th century. These photographs, from the beginning of the practice until today, are special keepsakes that have deep meaning for mourners through the visual "embalming" of the dead. Although postmortem photographs constitute the largest group of 19th-century American genre photographs, until recent years they were largely invisible and unknown. In the 19th century, the autopsy was very common because death was a part of daily life in the Victorian family. Most early postmortem photographs were of infants and young children. This is due to high child mortality rates due to poverty, lack of hygiene and medication. Families received post-mortem photographs because it was cheaper and more accessible than having a portrait painted. Additionally, this image was likely the only photograph the family would have of this family member. These images were often used as keepsakes and placed in the family home. Once the images could be multiplied, they would send the image to other family members. In the images, the groves were dressed in their best and were positioned as if they were still sleeping. This idea comes from the Christian belief of life after death of the soul of the par...... middle of paper ...... the meaning of photographing corpses was to preserve the likeness and reserve a person in time to keep the memories and somehow to keep that person alive. For many people, photography still serves this function privately, but a new public unease has developed around photographs of the dead. The reason behind this has to do with our belief in photographic realism; we also tend to be materialistic people. We tend to confuse reality, life, and the reality of death. I plan to do more research on this topic and discuss in more depth the relationship between photography and death, as well as the nature of the medium in which it is shown. the public. I would also like to discuss the traditions that contemporary photographers still use in their work today, and compare them to Renaissance paintings that show death in a different way than contemporary artists..