In June of 2OO3, I received a call that my Father was dying. Some time after arriving at my parent's home, I took out my camera, as I always do in order to understand, and quietly began to document the time spent at my father's deathbed. My family's support and willingness to allow such a difficult and intimate process to be photographed still touches me deeply. Three days passed. My Father silently waited for his family to assemble, for the camera to be put away and for us all to go to sleep so he could die alone.

As I began sharing my experience of my father's last days with friends and colleagues, I was surprised how often they spoke of a lasting desire to have said more to, or to have done more for their loved ones before they died. I listened to their regrets, denials, joys and pains that were much different from mine, some clearly articulated, while other stories advanced with ineffable poetry. The book, In Passing developed from these conversations and explores our complicated interactions with the artifacts, images, and memories of death.

In Passing includes work by professional and non-professional artists, writers and photographers, and touches on aspects of the very substance and frailty of human life as it passes while exploring both the diversity as well as the common threads in our experiences of death.

It is my hope that within this book, readers might recognize some of their own struggles, questions, and fears around death. That through such reflection they will take whatever time they need to remember, to prepare for, or to pass through to that place of clarity on the other side of grief, loss, and longing.

Todd Herman



Contributing artists:
Enrique Andrade, Stefanie J. Atkinson, Amy Auerbach, Erik Auerbach, David Balluff, Albert Baris, John Baumann, Betty Benard, Marco Berger, Kimberly Campbell, Suda Changkasiri, Alena Natalia Charow, Peter Cordova, Amanda Coslor, Patricia Coslor, Harrell Fletcher, Audrey Frank, Banira Giri, Jim Goldberg, Wolf Gomez, Beth Griffin, Mary Clare Griffin, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Jennifer Gwirtz, David Hale, Jessica Herman-Goodson, Marilyn Michlin Herman, Mitchell Herman, Todd Herman, Camille Holvoet, Ed Kashi, Kelley Kerslake, Jassim Mohammad Al Khafajy,Elizabeth Knox, E. Francis Kohler, Michele Kunard, Paula Levine, Richard Lichtman, Michael Bernard Loggins, Melanie MacKinnon, Ken Miller, Larry Miller, Winifred L. Montgomery, Leroy Moore, Douglas Morris, Alise Murphy, Pilar Olabarria, Sara O'Sullivan, Delaney Persons, Brenda Rasmussen, Jay Ruby, Nakkali Rupta, Zoë Ryan, Lori Sampson, Susan Schwartzenberg, Gordon Shepard, Noemi Sohn, Doug Stoddard, Cheryl Strayed, Melissa Stuart, Larry Sultan, Miria Toveg,Elizabeth Westrate, Willy Whitefeather, Katherine Wiemelt, and Mindy Zlotnick