“Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common funerary practice in Tibet wherein a human corpse is cut in specific locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhuta and animals – especially to birds of prey. The location of the sky burial preparation and place of execution are understood in the Vajrayana traditions as charnel grounds. In Tibet the practice is known as jhator, which literally means, «giving alms to the birds»”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A burial master chops bones of a body to feed vultures during a celestial burial ceremony on April 19, 2006 in Dari County of Guoluo Prefecture, Qinghai Province, northwest China. Celestial burial is a traditional funeral of Tibetan people, which began in the 7th century. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Some people joke about having clowns at their funeral, but how about having a coffin that looks like a gigantic cellphone? It is impossible to tell at the first glance that these colorful sculptures are actually coffins. The coffins were made by Kane Kwei and his assistant Paa Joe more than twenty years ago and have been a somewhat grim tourist attraction ever since. These coffins were probably made as an advertisement for the actual business, since it would hard to imagine someone actually ordering a coffin such as this.

Architects Christophe Berdaguer and Marie Péjus get scary with this sculptural,bogey-inspired arts center in France. Situated behind the severe Synagogue de Delme, the center's design transforms an old house, which previously served as a prison, a school, and most recently a funeral home. The new intervention draws inspiration from the latter, cloaking the structure in a white veil of molded concrete that creates a "living body" which expands into the surrounding areas of the house.

“Newton was born in Berlin, the son of Klara “Claire” (Marquis) and Max Neustädter, a button factory owner. His family was Jewish. Newton attended the Heinrich-von-Treitschke-Realgymnasium and the American School in Berlin. Interested in photography from the age of 12 when he purchased his first camera, he worked for the German photographer Yva (Elsie Neulander Simon) from 1936. The increasingly oppressive restrictions placed on Jews by the Nuremberg laws meant that his father lost control of the factory in which he manufactured buttons and buckles; he was briefly interned in a concentration camp on “Kristallnacht”, November 9, 1938, which finally compelled the family to leave Germany. Newton's parents fled to South America. He was issued with a passport just after turning 18, and left Germany on December 5, 1938. At Trieste he boarded the “Conte Rosso” (along with about 200 others escaping the Nazis) intending to journey to China. After arriving in Singapore he found he was able to remain there, first and briefly as a photographer for the Straits Times and then as a portrait photographer”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sigourney Weaver by Helmut Newton, 1995.

A face mask is placed on one of the 'Three business men who brought lunch' statues on Swanston street on March 29, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. All international arrivals into Australia from midnight on Saturday will be placed into mandatory quarantine in hotels for 14 days as the Federal Government increases restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Pictures of deceased people are seen inside a chapel at a cemetery in the village of Smoljinac, Serbia, October 25, 2016. From a distance, the cemetery in the eastern Serbian village of Smoljinac looks like a residential neighbourhood eerily placed among graves. But once inside the grounds, after passing a section with the usual stone slabs, visitors find rows of small bungalows painted in pastel colours. They have one or two rooms, large windows and ornate plaques – some inside, some outside – memorialising the deceased. These are the burial chapels of Smoljinac, cosy cabins with a furnished room inside, a storage place for wreaths and funeral paraphernalia, and the family crypt below. Some even have electric power inside. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Anda Oliveira, 34, enjoys a waterfall in the Tijuca National Park, one of the world's biggest urban forests, marking the World Water Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 15, 2024. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

A model backstage ahead of the Rasit Bagzibagli show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Istanbul at on March 27, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Sinem Yazici/Getty Images for IMG)