Jurgen, this is a pretty intriguing and fascinating field of photography. In the Western culture and society we have a "revulsion" toward depictions of the dead, or at least depictions that "hit home" in some way. For instance, here in America showing pictures of dead Americans (of any recent vintage) or even dead Westerners in general is considered off limits to your mainstream media, and that even extended to flag-draped coffins of those who died in combat during the previous administration.
And yet, a couple salient points: we showed bodies of the third world dead in scenes like the Haiti earthquake or of occasional outbreaks of violence...interesting and disturbing double standard there...
But, the question is whether there is a "place" for photography of the deceased?
And in practice, the answer is "yes". This photo may be considered a "message" photo in terms of a cautionary warning about drug overdose, or a "commentary" about a society where homelessness ends up as "refuse" that is just thrown into a cart to be disposed of, or simply an image depicting death in the midst of life, art if you will.
So, thanks for a post that can get us thinking. It's interesting that we don't see more of that type of subject matter in a photography forum.
