Immortelles for Elvis

ImmortelIes, memorials from the living to the dead, a Southern custom, perhaps, constitute what New Orleans Tom Bonner calls an architecture of the living, that is, a collecting of the spirit of the gone into the community of those left behind by the execution of exquisite or life-signifying artifacts, rather specifically designed to remind the mourners of the personal values of the deceased and of his or her relation to the aggrieved. Tinsel, tin, framed, ideal photographs and poems are the usual materials.

The pictures you are about to see are of Immortelles to Elvis Presley, offered at his home and gravesite on south Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis.  It is easy enough to see their sincerity, but it is their sheer, heart-breaking prettiness and mythical near theology that also attract interest.  His passing still triggers passions for the saving force of true love lost, ……   (From the introductory essay , Immortelles for Elvis: A Case of True Love Lost, by Gordon Osing)

These photographs were made over a 15 year period, beginning with the tenth anniversary of his passing in 1987 through the 25th.