Bed, Buried and Beyond

One of the things that sparked my interest in vernacular arts was my early exposure to decorated graves at an African American church in rural Georgia. Grave markers, from pyramids to mausoleums to uninscribed slabs of rock, have always provoked fascination with the limitless creativity exhibited in our last, permanent memorials. Have you ever seen the fantasy caskets from Ghana? It's a shame they're buried. All this was brought to mind by the snapshot shown here, which shows someone who chose to be buried in their bed. The inscription on the back identifies it as the grave of a Native American in Fort Washakie, Wyoming.