Lindsay Godin was born in May of 1992. She was raised in the countryside of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. She developed a liking for photography and design in her early adolescence, and started refining her skills working at a local photography studio during her senior year of high school. After high school, she attended East Stroudsburg University where she majored in Art & Design with a minor in Media Communications (Photography Track).
Following graduation, Lindsay applied and got accepted in 2014 into the Summer Residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. During the year that she applied to graduate schools, Lindsay continued the development of her artistic skills by completing a Post-Bachelors Digital Photography Certificate at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Lindsay is currently attending the University of Iowa MFA Program in Studio Arts, with a primary concentration in Photography, and a minor concentration in Graphic Design.
Before The Visitation & Visitation Room addresses the omnipresence and avoidance of death in contemporary American culture. Prior to the 19th century, death and mourning occurred in the home. Families were able to accept the phenomenon of death as it came.
At the turn of the 20th century, technology in medicine advanced, therefore doctors kept more people alive. Science glorified life and eventually developed a fear and denial, especially in American society, where dying is considered an ultimate defeat. Funeral homes were an accompaniment to this social change. Mourning now occurs in a business-operated home showcasing the extravagant urn or casket that carries the deceased’s remains. It resembles the illusion of an individual who simply drifted off into sleep.
Kitsch decorations are showcased which were never associated with the individual’s experience on earth. An abundance of tissues and non-threatening staging distract from the dead individual. The images in Visitation Room become a place of the impersonal, a purposely designed establishment which is dehumanizing. There is no spirituality present; emotions become so suppressed to the point where it is no longer about the person who was loved. Society must realize that death is always around us, we cannot deny it nor avoid it. It is the contemporary memento mori.
