About the project


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”The only things certain in life are death and taxes” - Benjamin Franklin. 

Death certainly is part of the human condition and one of the few events we all share, across cultures and borders, albeit we address it in very different ways. The Dead and Alive project combine photo art with anthropological and ethnological dissemination and introduces a number of death rituals from around the world. 

The Dead and Alive project is intended to contribute to public debate, encourage conversations about death, and allow people to familiarise themselves with the topic in more depth.

In some places – like Denmark – death is taboo, in other places death and the deceased are natural parts of the life of the living. The background for this project is also the desire to show how death rituals often reflect life. With its selection of different death and burial rituals, people will gain insight into how much any given culture’s values, hopes and dreams are reflected in their thoughts about death and life after death, and how differently we treat our dead from culture to culture.

The Dead and Alive project is ongoing and self-financed.



About the photographer


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Klaus Bo is an autodidact professional freelance photographer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. From the very beginning of his career, Klaus has been covering a wide range of subjects with a political, social and/or cultural focus, documenting on many different issues in Denmark and around the world. He has been working with various NGOs like CARE, Doctors Without Borders, and Danish Refugee Council.

Based on his own fear of death and the experience of how big a taboo death is in his home country, Denmark, Klaus began working on what has become his life’s work – the Dead and Alive Project in 2010/2011, documenting death rituals and how we relate to death around the world. Until now, he has been photographing death rituals and stories related to death in Greenland, Haiti, Guatemala, Romania, Thailand, Philippines, Nepal, India, Ghana, Israel, Finland, Indonesia, Madagascar and Denmark.




Print

Humboldt Forum “Living with Death” (book 2023)
Digital Foto (Denmark)
Stern Magazine (Germany) 12 pages
Annabelle (Switzerland) 14 pages
El Tiempo (Columbia)
New Philosopher Magazine (World) 14 pages
Fotografi (Norway) 
Progresso Fotografico (Italy)
Publico (Portugal)
UD&SE (Danish Railway Magazine)
Politiken (Danish Daily)
+ various Danish newspapers and magazines

ONLINE

Frames (English)
Lens Culture (English)
Le Bizarreum (French)
National Geographic (English)
Publico (Portuguese)
Dance Past Sunset (Podcast - English)
JOIA Magazine (Spanish)
Fuji X Passion (English)

Exhibitions

Dokk1 (Denmark)
Lydmar Hotel (Stockholm)
Frederikshavn Library (Denmark)
Liv&Død (Danish association on life and death)
Moesgaard Museum (Ethnografic museum, Denmark)
Leica Boutique (Copenhagen)
Copenhagen Photo Festival (Copenhagen)

Talks

Moesgaard Museum (Ethnografic museum, Denmark)
Lifting the Lid (international festival on death and dying)
Danish Red Cross
Dinner and Death (Resonansfestival at KU.BE)
Sankt Lukas Hospice
Liv&Død (Danish association on life and death)
Hospice Sjælland
Women Adventurers Club (Denmark)
Campus Carlsberg
City Campus - (Center for Health and Society)
Campus Emdrup - (Understand Death)

CONTESTS

Siena Awards
Liv&Død Prisen
Årets Pressefoto - Portrait, 2. pris
Picture Of the Year International - Award of Excellence
Årets Pressefoto - Reportage Abroad

TV/RADIO

2022 DR P1 + podcast. “Ubegribeligt” (incomprehensible).
2021 DR P2 (National Radio) - About the project and how we relate to death
2018 DR P3 (National Radio) - Interview about grief and death rituals
2018 DR P1 (National Radio) - Interview about the project and how we relate to death in Denmark
2017 TV2 (National Television) - About the project
2017 DR TV (National Television) - About various rituals
2017 A mirror on Life - Documentary by students at Grundtvig Højskole
2016 TV København - Interview about the project

Travels

2018 – Indonesia
2017 – Indonesia
2017 – Denmark
2016 – The Philippines
2015 – Madagascar
2015 – Guatemala
2015 – Ghana
2014 – Nepal
2013 – Nepal
2013 – Romania (research)
2012 – Denmark, Anholt (research)
2012 – India (twice)
2011 – Haiti
2009 – Greenland