BURYING STRANGERS

2012-01-14T19:25:00.001-08:00

ABOUT

2012-01-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

Burying Strangers was a project I started in order to document my day-job for one year (2011). Like many emerging Artists, I've had to spend a massive chunk of my time doing things other than making Art in order to keep up with rent and bills. Over the past 15 years, I've spent more time working at cemeteries than anywhere else. Having grown extremely tired by age 31, and foreseeing that I would definitely need to keep a day-job for at least one more year, I figured out that the only way that I was going to keep my sanity is if I somehow made my job into Art (since I couldn't yet make Art my job). This blog is the online record of that project. I will be publishing a physical record sometime early this year (2012) in the form of a limited edition book/zine.

One year in the day-job, un-art-related life of a broke emerging visual Artist. Enjoy (or don't. I really don't care either way. The important thing is that I'm still alive, fuckers).

Bryan Schnelle
Los Angeles, January 2012

2011

2012-01-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

TOTAL BURIALS - 105

(MALE - 50, FEMALE - 55)

AVERAGE AGE AT DEATH - 58.3809524

(MALE - 50.7058824, FEMALE - 64.4363636)

2012-01-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

2012-01-08T18:47:00.001-08:00

12/30/11

2011-12-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

Male, 74

12/29/11

2011-12-29T18:17:00.000-08:00

Female, 53

Very emotional. A small crowd stayed and watched us fill.

12/22/11

2011-12-24T12:57:00.001-08:00

Male, 57

12/20/11

2011-12-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

Male, 73

2011-12-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

12/15/11

2011-12-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

Male, 32

Coroner's case.

12/12/11

2011-12-15T12:07:00.001-08:00

Male, 61

2011-12-05T17:39:00.001-08:00

12/5/11

2011-12-05T13:25:00.001-08:00

Male, 86

Top of a double. Singing.

12/3/11

2011-12-05T13:24:00.001-08:00

Female, 88

Top of a double.

12/2/11

2011-12-05T13:23:00.001-08:00

Female, 81

12/2/11

2011-12-05T13:22:00.001-08:00

Female, 64

2011-11-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

11/22/11

2011-11-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

Female, 87

A woman (presumably a daughter) had to be carried away.

Husband died 10 years ago.

11/19/11

2011-11-21T15:11:00.000-08:00

Male, 57

Cremation.

11/14/11

2011-11-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

Female, 51

Pink casket.

2011-11-10T15:53:00.001-08:00

11/7/11

2011-11-09T18:12:00.001-08:00

Female, 57

Cremation.

11/4/11

2011-11-09T18:11:00.001-08:00

Female, 63

10/21/11

2011-10-25T16:30:00.001-07:00

Male, 92

Smoker, bladder cancer survivor.

2011-10-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

10/19/11

2011-10-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Female, 86

Husband died 17 years ago.

10/18/11

2011-10-21T13:42:00.001-07:00

Male, 49

10/15/11

2011-10-17T10:11:00.001-07:00

Female, 22

10/14/11

2011-10-17T10:10:00.001-07:00

Female, 85

2011-10-06T19:05:00.001-07:00

10/6/11

2011-10-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

Female, 2 months

Furry pink casket.

10/5/11

2011-10-06T17:23:00.001-07:00

Female, 89

Cremation.

9/23/11

2011-09-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Male, 68

Must have been a police officer. Half the people in attendance were cops (in uniform). The procession was lead by two cops on horseback.

2011-09-17T10:38:00.001-07:00

9/16/11

2011-09-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

Female, 70

9/14/11

2011-09-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Female, 81

9/9/11

2011-09-16T11:30:00.001-07:00

Male, 36

9/6/11

2011-09-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Female, 76

Vault guy let the grandson crank the vault into the ground.

2011-09-07T20:36:00.001-07:00

9/1/11

2011-09-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Female, 69

Top of a double. Husband died 23 years ago.

8/30/11

2011-08-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

Female, 89

8/26/11

2011-08-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Female, 82

Top of a double, husband died 5 months ago. Red balloons.

2011-08-25T18:29:00.001-07:00

8/25/11

2011-08-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Female, 1 day

Family members helped fill.

8/23/11

2011-08-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

Male, 79

8/19/11

2011-08-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

Female, 80

8/17/11

2011-08-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Female, 88

2011-08-17T18:06:00.001-07:00

8/16/11

2011-08-17T08:52:00.001-07:00

Female, 81

8/12/11

2011-08-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

Male, 61

8/6/11

2011-08-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Female, 64

7/28/11

2011-07-29T16:25:00.001-07:00

Male, 40

Cremation.

2011-07-21T17:48:00.001-07:00

7/21/11

2011-07-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Female, 93

One attendee (son), who stayed and watched us fill.

She had been dead for 9 weeks by the time her son was able to come up with the money to bury her.

7/19/11

2011-07-21T13:15:00.001-07:00

Male, 44

7/18/11

2011-07-21T13:14:00.001-07:00

Male, 45

2011-07-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

7/15/11

2011-07-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Male, 23

Cremation.

*Not a typo. We buried 2 23-year-olds in the same week.

7/14/11

2011-07-15T14:40:00.001-07:00

Male, 81

7/13/11

2011-07-15T14:38:00.001-07:00

Male, 23

7/8/11

2011-07-13T10:59:00.001-07:00

Male, 44

7/7/11

2011-07-13T10:58:00.001-07:00

Male, 20 weeks.

2011-07-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

6/30/11

2011-06-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Female, 84

6/25/11

2011-06-28T22:17:00.001-07:00

Male, 87

6/23/11

2011-06-24T16:09:00.001-07:00

Female, 85

2011-06-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

6/22/11

2011-06-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Male, 86

Honor Guard.

6/21/11

2011-06-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

Female, 62

2 guys who I can only assume were the sons stayed to witness. They simultaneously let out a peculiar, fast little chuckle as the vault was lowered into the ground.

6/18/11

2011-06-21T20:10:00.001-07:00

Female, 65

Aztec dancers.

6/17/11

2011-06-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Female, 43

6/8/11

2011-06-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

Male, 90

Cremation.

2011-06-07T16:42:00.001-07:00

6/7/11

2011-06-07T12:14:00.001-07:00

Female, 66

5/27/11

2011-05-31T13:11:00.001-07:00

Female, 50

5/26/11

2011-05-26T11:49:00.001-07:00

Female, 49, cancer.

5/25/11

2011-05-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Male, 64

The most emotional service I have ever seen In my entire 13 years of doing this. It was so loud. Very hard to watch.

2011-05-23T22:05:00.001-07:00

5/21/11

2011-05-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Male, 27, hit & run.

Was hit by a truck while on his motorcycle.

5/13/11

2011-05-13T18:04:00.001-07:00

Male, 19, car accident.

5/12/11

2011-05-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

Male, 12 days

2011-05-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

5/11/11

2011-05-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

Male, 76

76 white doves and a couple thousand dollars worth of flowers.

5/9/11

2011-05-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

Female, 51

White clothing, singing.

5/7/11

2011-05-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

Male, 79

5/7/11

2011-05-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Female, 85

2011-05-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

5/3/11

2011-05-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Female, 2

4/29/11

2011-04-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

Female, 88

4/27/11

2011-04-28T11:31:00.001-07:00

Male, 44

2011-04-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

4/26/11

2011-04-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

Male, 26

4/22/11

2011-04-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Female, 72

Had been dead for 3 weeks by the time someone found her.

4/21/11

2011-04-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Female, 36, cancer.

Had cancer since she was 10.

4/20/11

2011-04-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

Male, 83

Green balloons, green button-downs, green dresses. Was really into gambling.

2011-04-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

4/15/11

2011-04-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

Male, 54

Cremation.

4/15/11

2011-04-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

Male, 39

2011-04-04T18:15:00.001-07:00