A Contemporary Western Book Of The Dead by Charlotte Rodgers and Lydia Maskell (2012)

A Contemporary Western Book of the Dead is an intelligent and authentic book from Mandrake, Oxford Press, printed in 2012 and edited by artist and occultist Charlotte Rodgers, who is also the author of ‘The Bloody Sacrifice’ that is about the use of blood in art practice. The book of the dead explores artistic, historical and spiritual concepts by leading practitioners in art, most notably Mogg Moran, Steven Mitchell, and Louis Martinie and Sue Fox. Outlined are rites of passage, artistic enquiry, and teachings on the death process in different cultures and the sharing of personal experiences of loss and the process of transition and transformation through death and dying. The publication is globally bought and sought after and is discussed at alternative festivals in London, UK (The Secret Chiefs) and abroad. Fox features in a chapter on her artistic practises and many powerful photographs are seen throughout, some of which are from her notorious collection ‘Post Mortem’ and ‘Vile Bodies – Photography, and the Crisis of Looking’, a Channel 4 series and book. Fox gives a unique and candid insight into her thoughts and perspectives on death in art, in a piece of writing called ‘Death – The Final Frontier’.