This series of Astronaut suicides by Neil DaCosta is so dark it almost comes off as funny at first, but I find it extremely striking. As a visualization of the NASA program ending— it takes an emotional spin on the American fixation on the astronaut as a hero transcendent of time & what the end of that dream looks like in a sense.
I prefer the mattress image above to some of the others, as it’s less violent and more just about capturing helplessness. My other favorites of the series would have to be this one, this one, or this one in terms of preference based on their composition. I find it fascinating that the helmet is totally gold and it makes the whole thing sadder somehow and less maudlin — not seeing the face of our hero.
ANIMAL magazine seems to think it’s more of a flip, morose thing, but I read it as more earnest than they did:
This darkly absurd photo series stars a spacesuit-clad astronaut dramatically attempting to kill himself after reading about the end and last hurrah of NASA’s shuttle program in the newspaper. Portland, Oregon-based Neil Dacosta’s Astronaut Suicides features wrist slashing, car gassing, pill chugging… You know, the classics.
Oh woe. The sterile interiors give this an extra chill.
Is this morbid Harold-type extravaganza insensitive, is it poignant critique or is it… sick ‘n’ silly?
I’d say the former: absolutely a poignant critique, while of course espousing some dark humor in its content. I saw this series first elsewhere so seeing it in ANIMAL was a positive I think, but I worry that it encourages a quick read on the work to map it back to Harold and Maude (as much as I loved that film). What do you think of the series?
