savannah

Humanity is obsessed with life. The mantras of YOLO and Carpe Diem are modern reflections of the romanticism of living. While breath in the body makes you technically alive, it can be difficult to determine how to frame and fully live a life. There are thousands of blog posts describing how to achieve a life full of vigor, ranging from the electric beat of active community involvement to the mellow refreshment of the quiet life. Whatever path we choose, there is a similarity we all share in life: the desire to commemorate it after death. Through this logic, it is clear that it is natural for funerary art to exist as a way to express an aura of a life dearly missed.

You’re probably already more familiar with this small town on the coast of Georgia than you think. Savannah, Georgia, has been featured in popular films like Forrest Gump and The Last Song, but there is much more to this vacation hot spot than just pretty scenery. Savannah has something for every type of traveler looking for a weekend away.

Angela Yarian holding a baby from the village (about year 2003)Throughout most of their childhood, the Yarian sisters’ lives were divided between Togo and the United States. From 1995 to 2004, Rebekah (starting at age eight), her sister Angela (starting at age seven), their younger brother, Daniel, and their parents spent half of each year in a little country town outside of Sykesville, Maryland, and the other half of the year in Dapaong, Togo—a tiny city in a tiny country on the northwest coast of Africa.