In A brief movement after death (Damiani, October 2018), photographic artist Caleb Cain Marcus employs color to imagine what the release of energy from the body into the universe might look like when we die. The painterly images, which are rendered in hues of blue, orange, green, violet and grey, were taken along the coasts of New York and California; they contain sky and ocean – immense bodies of space that we can lose ourselves in, becoming part of their vastness.

The genesis of the work is personal, explains the publisher in a statement. With the birth of his daughter, Cain Marcus’ death suddenly felt very near. His childhood questions about what happens when we die resurfaced and he began to think about how to visually represent what occurs after death. He wondered, could the façade of our earthbound reality dissolve to give way to something that is truly extraordinary?

He writes, “As I watched my daughter interact with the world, I saw how many experiences were ahead of her that I’d already lived. She was moving toward life in all its brilliance and I toward death.”

Each digital print becomes a unique piece of art as Cain Marcus swings a grease pencil attached to a string over the image. This pendulum-like action makes tightly grouped marks on print’s surface that symbolize the finite quantity of time in a lifespan.

Cain Marcus is based in New York City. His artistic practice is rooted in photography and centered around the tangible presence of space as a connector with the universe.

A brief movement after death
By Caleb Cain Marcus
Damiani, October 2018

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