'Right Before I Die': Photographer reveals heartbreaking truth on taboo topic

'I wanted to make a project about the universal challenge that we all have to address, and that is dying.'

Photographer Andrew George decided to interview and photograph people close to death for a project titled "Right Before I Die."

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - George's project earned an exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and he explained the four-year endeavor taught him a lot about people, life and hope.

At the exhibit's opening, George claimed there was nothing macabre about his requests for terminal patient's dreams, goals, words of wisdom and ways to live more fulfilling lives.

"I wanted to make a project about the universal challenge that we all have to address, and that is dying," George explained. "I thought if I could make a project about exceptional people who had overcome the fears that we all grapple with in life [sic]. Then it occurred to me that I could really only get that from dealing with a dying population."

George would visit people and photograph them as they answered questions about their dreams, regrets and as they described the happier moments of their lives.

According to the Clinton Herald, George discovered many had similar views of their impending deaths.

None seemed to fear the idea of passing though none was in a rush to meet it either. Many of his subjects appeared to be frail and noted they were in pain but they were still grateful for living another day.

A man identified simply as "Jack" explained one of his life's regrets: "My wife wasn't the greatest love of my life. A Japanese girl was back in the '40s."

He had met her when they were teenagers and she was sent to a relocation camp during WWII. Though they planned to marry, they lost touch.

"Thought about her the other day because I had a Japanese nurse. I hadn't thought about her in years," Jack admitted.

George's exhibit features the images and stories of twenty people - nearly all of whom have since passed away.

Nelly Gutierrez, who struggles with diabetes, liver failure, heart troubles and other ailments, is a 63-year-old woman who stays strong through painful treatments for the sake of seeing her family.

Gutierrez described a moment when she nearly died. She saw a white light and assumed she was in heaven but told God she wasn't ready, that her children still needed her.

"And then I woke up," she smiled.

Though Gutierrez was fine with talking about death, George explained the difficulties he encountered when attempting to explain to hospital administrators what his project was all about.

"This is taboo," they'd tell him. "We don't talk about death."

Liebe Geft, the director of the Museum of Tolerance, explained: "We're not an art museum, but there was something that resonated with me very much with the subject and the important themes of our museum.

"It reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit, of the precious gift of life. And it begs all kinds of questions about what it means to be alive, what is the purpose in being here, how can I be the best person that I can be."

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