Exhibit examines dying in words, photos
LOS ANGELES — Four years ago photographer Andrew George approached the medical director of a Los Angeles hospital with an odd request: He wanted to meet and take photographs of people about to die.
There was nothing macabre about the request, George says. He simply wanted to learn of and reflect the wisdom these people had gained in the hope that others could discover how to lead better, more fulfilling lives.
“I wanted to make a project about the universal challenge that we all have to address, and that is dying,” George said as he sat in a gallery in Los Angeles’ Museum of Tolerance, where his photo exhibition, “Right, Before I Die,” opened this past week.
On the exhibition walls around him are 20 framed photos of dying people, each accompanied by some of the words they spoke as they described their hopes, dreams, happy moments and regrets while he photographed them.
A commonality he found was that few seemed to fear death any longer. Not that any were in a hurry for it to come either. Many, although appearing frail and noting they were in pain, still looked forward to greeting the day.
One subject, identified only as Irene, is quoted as saying: “It’s a beautiful day. I’m watching the leaves sway back and forth in the wind, and I’m happy that I get to be alive to watch that.”
A few had regrets, although they no longer dwelled on them.
“My wife wasn’t the greatest love of my life. A Japanese girl was back in the ’ 40s,” a man named Jack is quoted as saying.
Of the people George photographed, only Nelly Gutierrez — who has diabetes, liver failure, heart trouble and other ailments — is still alive. The 63-yearold says she hangs on because she wants to see her family. That, and she likes to sing karaoke.
She saw the white light of death once, she recalled, adding she believed it was heaven. But she argued with God that she wasn’t ready to go.
“And then I woke up,” she says.