The series of photographs, Mortals, is an ongoing project in which I try and understand mortality through the bodies of animals. Humans constant obsession with death and our mortality has always interested me specifically the rituals we conduct surrounding death. Thinking of the way in which after death there are different ways we treat the body to “prevent” death. OI wanted to know the purpose of how during open caskets the dead are dressed and made to look close to life as possible. Is this another way humans can prevent death by treating bodies as continued living? I wanted to find a way to memorialize animals in contrast to this idea. With a sense of honesty and gentleness, the photos do not avoid showing gore but embrace it along with the beauty nature has as the bodies return to the earth. The way in which the animals came to me and were found different states of decay felt like a natural way to embrace my own mortality.