Clever guy, that Shakespeare. He foresaw the viral capability of the internet long before the invention of the penny post. Here’s Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “I’ll put a girdle around the Earth in 40 minutes!”
Which is as long as it took young gunshot victim David Morales Colón to travel around the world yesterday, cleverly posed by morticians astride a motorbike. A great many visitors to this blog will already have seen him.
What looks clever to the uninformed appears pretty perilous to a funeral insider. The embalmer must have done a thorough job of aspirating the stomach because, posed like this, Sr Colon could easily begin to misbehave from the inside out. It’d be good to have a fellow embalmer’s view of this.
The pose is a masterpiece because there is tension in the body (though lacking in the hands). How would you do that? How would you stop the body from slumping and sliding off? How would you achieve that attitude of the head?
Does it open your mind to possibilities closer to home ? The classic British nan-in-a-box style of body presentation is, arguably, not only unimaginative but also unrealistic. Who ever saw nan in a box before? She doesn’t look herself, does she? Couldn’t they have sat her in an armchair holding her knitting? Or eating chocolates, watching East Enders?
Is this an idea worth pursuing or a road not on any account to be travelled down? As with so many matters funereal, there’s such a very fine line between a helpful initiative and a hideously naff one.
Weighing in as an embalmer, I’d say that this gentleman must have been embalmed like a rock to hold his head up like that, though perhaps his doo-rag or hood conceals a guy-wire to assist in this posture. I’m sure that this man was embalmed in this position, perhaps on this very motorcycle. The fact that he is young and muscular certainly help with the fixation – more proteins to bond together. Personally, I would have preferred a posture of sitting bolt upright in my pajamas in the casket like I just woke up from a crazy dream- ala the… Read more »
I recon he was embalmed before they stood him up in the corner of his house…….did you see him like that that Patrick – that was interesting enough? I’m sure Charles has the link available.
As another embalmer, it would be really interesting to have been there to see the whole process…especially changing his posture so radically. Interesting case but I hope it doesn’t catch on!!!!
Brilliant, Pat! Love it!!