Changes

In Europe, the culture also slowly died during the 20th century. The key thing that changed was death occurred more frequently in hospitals. Death itself became regulated as well, as legislation in the United States and other Western countries increasingly made it less common for people to die in their homes. This made it more difficult to photograph the dead as death itself became a medical rather than family experience for many, helping to erode the tradition as well. However, in the 19th century, many cultures had begun adopting the use of post-mortem photography. These cultures continued to practice this even up to today. In some eastern cultures, such Christians in the Middle East, prominent dead figures are still displayed publically and photographed, where they are made to look as if they are sleeping in their vestments. For instance, the death of bishops or well known religious figures is often displayed in this way. In some African countries, this is also practiced more commonly. In the West, post-mortem photography has not completely gone away. The relatively few who do practice it mostly now take photographs of the dead in their casket and after they have been embalmed. The practice of dressing someone up in clothing that symbolized their life, such as their work uniform or wedding clothes, is still frequent in Western culture, where these individuals sometimes have their photographs that are mostly kept private in the family. African-American traditions have still kept post-mortem traditions to an extent. Elizabeth Heyert is one photographer who recently created a traveling exhibition of African-American post-mortem photographs showing the deceased in their finest clothing and looking like they are resting in their caskets.