killing the death

Sugar skulls, engravings, poetry and paintings are some of the media that Mexicans use to make fun of the death, elements with which a lot of us grow and coexist, that is the way we say to the death that we don’t care so much about her and that we are waiting for her to come, buy us a drink and take us to dance.

Octavio Paz said that the indifference that the Mexicans have for the death nurtures directly from the indifference that we have for the life; being this truth or not, and taking into account that the contemporary vision that Mexicans have for the death is very different, its still very interesting to notice certain patterns in the use of this kind of elements in world level products.

In recent years it seems to have been an increasing use of death elements in different commercial graphics and products, a quick example of this might be clothing brands such as Zara and Ed Hardy, which have been increasingly offering t-shirts and other garments with death elements, turning death into a fashion element and giving it the opportunity to be seen with indifference, killing death by this in a sort of way.

The relevance that this phenomenon might have as a reflection of the postmodern indifference towards life is something that for me is very interesting, mainly because, it might sound logic that what we would need right now in a world full of sustainability issues would be precisely the opposite, which is to embrace life and seeing it as something relevant that needs a lot of care.

Without a doubt we would need a much deeper study to reach relevant conclusions that help us to use in a positive and subtly way this dialogue between life and death in products and services of daily usage. I think it is a subject that will be increasingly important for design and value generation in our world.

Perhaps being Mexican in this particular issue might be an advantage.

Happy day of the death.