Memento Morrie
Images of Love and Loss
In 1995, photographer Heather Pillar documented Morrie Schwartz’s last six months as he came to terms with his disease, ALS. With Morrie, she created a show of 20 photographs illustrating Morrie’s aphorisms about love and loss and exhibited it at Brandeis University in September 1995 as Morrie wanted to see the exhibition before he died. Heather continued to make more images up until Morrie’s death and at his grave. In the intervening years, Morrie has become iconic largely due to the best-selling memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom.
Heather Pillar was a news and documentary photographer before teaching in international schools in seven countries over four continents in 25 years. Recently repatriated, Heather’s exploration of her negatives expands the original story of Morrie’s philosophies in a visual format. In this era of pandemics, an older population and a failing healthcare system, there are no easy solutions to dying with dignity. Now a quarter century later, Morrie’s philosophies continue to resonate universally.
