“So artsy...” - May 4, 2012
Mitt-Chai Lenix
Date: May 15, 2012
Cause of Death: Shot
Location: Atlanta, GA
Spc. Mitt-Chai Lenix (28) was shot by a man whom he approached for car help
- April 29, 2012
Lizzie Watkins
Date: May 06, 2012
Cause of Death: Struck on the head
Location: Perth, Australia
Lizzie Watkins (24) died when she was struck on the head during a hockey game
“Rapala topwater lure in arm. Ouch” - May 14, 2011
Jason Jowett
Date: Jun 03, 2011
Cause of Death: Auto Accident
Location: Great Falls, MT
Jason Jowett (23) was killed in a car accident while on his way to go bear hunting
- September 04, 2015
Kristi Kafcaloudis
Date: Sep 06, 2015
Cause of Death: Fall
Location: Norway
Kristi Kafcaloudis (24) lost her balance and plummeted between 200m and 300m to the bottom of the gorge, when she asked someone to take a photograph of her standing on the edge of the rock
“Still got them freaky eyeballs from my time at NIH.”- March 27, 2014
Jay Lake
Date: Jun 01, 2014
Cause of Death: Cancer
Location: Portland, OR
Jay Lake (49) died after a battle with cancer
- March 6, 2013
Sara Barrett
Date: Mar 12, 2013
Cause of Death: Murder
Location: Tacoma, WA
Sara Barrett (42) was murdered by her husband who then called a TV station asking them to post news of her slaying on their Facebook page
- May 28, 2012
Cameron Vennard
Date: May 30, 2012
Cause of Death: Train-Pedestrian Incident
Location: Kirkwood, MO
Cameron Vennard (14) was walking along tracks and listening to music with headphones when he was struck by a train
“our nightly guest showed back up” - December 31, 2012
Jaime Pickett
Date: Jan 07, 2013
Cause of Death: Helicopter Crash
Location: Lima, Peru
Jaime Pickett (38) was killed in a helicopter crash in Peru
- August 11, 2012
Linda VanDerLinden
Date: Aug 16, 2012
Cause of Death: Murder
Location: Belleville, MI
Linda VanDerLinden (34) and her seven-year old twin boys were murdered by her husband before he killed himself in a car wreck
“Better stance... I’m really proud of him and his gun saftey” - May 28, 2012
Mark Lee
Date: Aug 07, 2012
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Location: Terre Haute, IN
Mark Lee (26) involved in a six-hour standoff with police died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head
- October 18, 2011
Joseph Ciancola
Date: Oct 27, 2011
Cause of Death: Unknown
Location: South Kingstown, RI
Joseph Ciancola (20) collapsed during baseball practice and died soon after
- April 26, 2013
Peyton James
Date: Oct 13, 2014
Cause of Death: Suicide
Location: Round Rock, TX
Peyton James (13) hanged himself in his bedroom after suffering physical and verbal abuse from his classmates
“i make pretty Ka-booms!!!!!” - May 22, 2011
Kristoffer Solesbee
Date: May 26, 2011
Cause of Death: Improvised Explosive Device
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kristoffer Solesbee (32) died in the Shorabak district of Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device
The Last Post, Installation View, ClampArt, New York, NY
The Last Post, Installation View, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI
The Last Post compiles the last photos posted on social media platforms by people who have passed away and the corresponding text pieces detailing the image information and the deaths. It addresses the aesthetics of vernacular imagery and the views of mortality and life, questioning authorship and the legitimacy of appropriation, investigating the complicated relationships between image and text, and how photographs circulate in our daily lives in the digital sharing age.
In this project, the deliberately sequenced last posts are recontextualized, conveying fictional narratives full of ambiguity and mystery that depict life stories and deal with the complexity of loss and absence. Meanwhile, the texts contain factual information about the images and the deaths of the individuals who posted the photographs. Each text piece consists of the corresponding image posting date, image caption (if written), name of the individual who passed away, cause, date, location of death, and a short statement describing the death circumstance.