Mercy

"Life asked death, 'Why do people love me but hate you?' Death responded, “Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth." (Author unknown) This is a series photographed at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help hospice center. This focus is on the people who help the patients, the Nuns, nurses, and priest, as well as the patients themselves. I was able to follow Father Paul Burke, a Catholic priest, on his daily emotional journey. I witnessed his role in giving the sacraments to the sick and administering their last rights to those who are about to die. This place is a hidden place of refuge, where one can receive comfort while dying.

Death is inevitable, but shunned as a topic. I most wanted to acknowledge those who not only embrace this reality, but also the people who give up everything to help the sick. What the nuns and the priest, and all the caretakers are doing is so important because they give dignity to the dying. Although they get little recognition for what they are doing, they receive so much joy from their work. people often completely give up on those that are dying and these people who do not are truly selfless and special.

It is more comfortable to ignore this subject then to consider that death can come at anytime. I am sharing my experience in documenting, through my photography, the extraordinary actions of these special people assisting in this process of dying, and there by opening up the conversation about death itself.