Lebensbilder - Life pictures
Photographs are traces of our spirit, mirrors of our lives, reflections of our hearts, frozen memories that we can hold silently in our hands, forever, if we wish.
— Judy Weiser
Lebensbilder - Photography in Palliative Care
Contributions by Barbara Bleisch, Clara Bolin, Sabine Millius
Published by Christoph Merian Verlag Basel, July 2025
The book Lebensbilder documents a unique artistic project in palliative care: Tina Ruisinger uses photography to enable seriously ill and elderly people in the final stages of their lives to experience moments of self-efficacy and dignity. The patients themselves take photographs of their surroundings in their hospital rooms, and in some cases they review key moments in their lives using snapshots they have brought with them. The book brings together photographs taken during the project, accompanied by very personal, impressive quotes. The patients are portrayed as individuals with their own unique biographies. Lebensbilder enables a touching examination of the topics of death and dying, which remain taboo in our society.
The older we get, the more tangible it becomes that we will not live forever. We are vulnerable, finite beings. In addition to the question of what really matters to us and whether we have savored the gift of life, the question of what we will leave behind when we die becomes increasingly important for many people.
— Barbara Bleisch
