[Amy]

Suicide landscapes by Philip Braham

At first glance, the work of Scottish photographer Philip Braham seems to be a simple series of postcard-pretty (albeit slightly haunting) black & white photographs of Scottish landscapes. But, much like Scotland itself, beyond the surface lays something darker.

Sadly, beautiful Scotland has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe, almost twice the rate of the rest of the UK. Inspired by the high-profile case of Irene Hogg, a Scottish headmistress who ended her life after a critical school inspection, Braham began following cases of suicide reported in the media and documenting the sites as sacred spaces. Calling his project Suicide Notes, each landscape is a haunting photographic monument to a real person who committed suicide there.

In the words of the artist:

The conscious decision to take one’s life in the open, before nature, I believe represents a private farewell to the world and a stark acknowledgement that one is utterly alone in death if not in life. The landscapes here represent the last scenes in the final act of lives too broken to continue. They stand as modest monuments to the subjects absent in this series of photographs.

The artist does not reveal any personal details about the deceased, but the landscapes nonetheless seem to become deeply personal portraits of the people who ended their lives in them. Armed with knowledge of the tragic events that took place there, each image becomes saturated with a dark but beautiful pathos. Braham’s quiet and slightly eerie style of photography captures the ghosts of the place: a fitting tribute to individual grief and a poetic response to a pressing social problem in Scotland.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

[Faline]

Nice places

[DLESS]

there's a place in i think it's japan where so many people kill themselves the cops keep men posted trying to look for people who might be there for that reason. It's at the base of a mountain...real pretty area too.

[Creepy]

Originally Posted by GODLESS ↗

there's a place in i think it's japan where so many people kill themselves the cops keep men posted trying to look for people who might be there for that reason. It's at the base of a mountain...real pretty area too.

Aokigahara Forest.

[Creepy]

Last one is awfy close to home.

[Amy]

It's eerie to me to think I am looking at what someone saw the moment right before their death. Very peaceful looking though. If I were to do it, that would be a great going out sight.

[Faline]

Originally Posted by Creepy ↗

Aokigahara Forest.

Some pics of that forest
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...suicide-31300/
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...uicides-33478/
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...forest-104522/

[happy]

It seems to me the landscape would be the last thing on someones mind when commiting suicide. The setting would be more for privacy than the scenery I would think.

[Amy]

Originally Posted by happy ↗

It seems to me the landscape would be the last thing on someones mind when commiting suicide. The setting would be more for privacy than the scenery I would think.

depends on your view of nature, to me nature and the surroundings is very important. I guess it would also depend on your motive for doing it and the frame of mind you are in. If you were at peace with your decision I would think you would want to go to a favorite spot or something to the such.

[Angelahh]

This article recently came out with the top 5 places. All very beautiful...

5. Niagara Falls
4. The Gap (Austrailia)
3. Golden Gate Bridge
2. Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (China)
1. Aokigahara Forest

Some reasoning for the number one choice :

Although a book called Nami No To (Wave Tower) was written decades ago by Seicho Matsumoto telling the story of an unhappy young woman who takes her life in the forest, the authorities place the majority of the blame for the suicides on a book published in 1993 by Wataru Tsurumi. It is called “The Complete Manual of Suicide,” and tells a person how to take their own life. Tsurumi highly recommends “without hesitation” journeying to the Jukai because “your body will not be found. You will become a missing person and slowly disappear from people’s memory.”

Theres a place near me on the lake where as you are driving along the shore, the trees suddenly disappear and the lake's panoramic views are revealed.... this is a suicide hot spot. Sorry I dont have a pic. I guess you can also see either the sun rise or set (one of them) so people like to stare out and watch that when they go .

Nice topic Amy