Cover story for The New York Times Magazine
Photographer based in Brooklyn, New York.
For assignments, licensing, print sales and exhibition requests:
hey@oliverfarshi.com | +1.510.545.6383
A Place to Die
awarded by World Press Photo & CPOY
While death often happens behind closed doors and in clinical settings, these photographs are an invitation to look at an inevitable aspect of life in a new way.
World Press Photo Exhibition 2025
Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, Spain
This story takes place at a house unlike any other in the United States. There are no residents and guests are accompanied by a death doula.
Terminally ill people visit this house to spend their final hours before drinking a medication that ends their life.
“All of this is free... This return to ritual and tradition is grounded in community care, not profit."
Preparations for the guest's death start soon before their arrival. Underneath the soft-colored bedsheets are heated mattresses and the beds are adjustable, like those found in hospitals.
At 11:15 am, the pharmacist delivered the medication. The package contained pre-meds to stave off nausea and a compound created specifically to induce death.
In any other circumstance consuming this compound would be considered an overdose. In this case though it is exactly the correct dose and literally what the doctor ordered: a medicine to end acute suffering.
This guest went to hospital for a bad cold. While she was there, the doctors discovered she had stage 4 lung cancer. Around two weeks later she arrived at this house determined to die.
“The biggest ritual is making sure that things slow down.”
“I used to have a Corolla and I loved my little Corolla but you can’t fit a body in a Corolla.”
A neighborhood of gentle hills and winding streets lined with family homes. Wrapped in the morning fog these houses are glowing and faded. Each house is made for life and living except for one.
3 Parrots, 1 Shared Wall, 2 Ruptured Lives
for The New York Times
Three parrots came between two best friends at a Manhattan co-op, entangling the U.S. Department of Justice and leaving behind broken teeth, eviction notices, and a historic court settlement.
On assignment for The New York Times, see the full story.
Photo Editor: Brent Murray
Three parrots came between two best friends at a Manhattan co-op, entangling the U.S. Department of Justice and leaving behind broken teeth, eviction notices, and a historic court settlement.
At the deposition, one of the parties arrived carrying a jar of parrot feathers. When asked why, she explained that their presence was soothing.
Charlotte lives with her service dog, Sofia, in a Manhattan condo.
The condo next door, connected by an adjoining wall, was previously occupied by a tenant who kept three parrots.
"I started grinding my teeth in my sleep... my filling broke and they diagnosed that I was clenching." Charlotte now needs this mouthguard to sleep due to grinding caused by anxiety related to her neighbor’s birds.
For a time, Charlotte considered her neighbor to be a close friend. They would care for each other’s pets and celebrated birthdays together.
Close to Union Square and Gramercy Park, Charlotte’s condo is located in The Rutherford. The building contains 175 residential units and was constructed in 1961.
Charlotte’s bathroom cabinet holds medication prescribed for anxiety and other conditions. She believes her declining health is tied to the parrots and the financial and legal fallout that followed her noise complaints.
Ms. Kullen is trying to forget the parrots and hopes to sell the apartment, putting the experience behind her. In the meantime, relief comes through visits to her horse, Asantro, in New Jersey.
Email: hey@oliverfarshi.com
Call: +1.510.545.6383
IG: @oliverblank
Oliver Farshi is a British photographer based in Brooklyn. His work features people in moments of intense transition and revelation.
A winner of World Press Photo, American Photography, and CPOY, he has photographed cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, People Magazine, and The Washington Post Style. His work has been published in The LA Times, The Boston Globe, New York Magazine, The New Republic, and Forbes among others.
In New York, Oliver’s photography has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, Baxter St, Photoville, and is currently appearing in over 60 exhibitions across the world as part of World Press Photo’s touring show. He is a graduate of the International Center of Photography’s Documentary Practice & Visual Journalism program.
In his photographic practice, Oliver moves in otherwise unseen spaces, documenting the deeply personal. This can be seen in A Place To Die, which follows his time at a house terminally-ill people visit to take a life-ending medication, and The One Who Got Away, a portrait series which connects each person through the loss of a loved one in their life.
Ultimately Oliver’s photographs reveal moments of vulnerability that feel familiar yet are rarely seen.
Call: +1.510.545.6383
IG: @oliverblank
Oliver Farshi is a British photographer based in Brooklyn. His work features people in moments of intense transition and revelation.
A winner of World Press Photo, American Photography, and CPOY, he has photographed cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, People Magazine, and The Washington Post Style. His work has been published in The LA Times, The Boston Globe, New York Magazine, The New Republic, and Forbes among others.
In New York, Oliver’s photography has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, Baxter St, Photoville, and is currently appearing in over 60 exhibitions across the world as part of World Press Photo’s touring show. He is a graduate of the International Center of Photography’s Documentary Practice & Visual Journalism program.
In his photographic practice, Oliver moves in otherwise unseen spaces, documenting the deeply personal. This can be seen in A Place To Die, which follows his time at a house terminally-ill people visit to take a life-ending medication, and The One Who Got Away, a portrait series which connects each person through the loss of a loved one in their life.
Ultimately Oliver’s photographs reveal moments of vulnerability that feel familiar yet are rarely seen.
©2025 Oliver Farshi. All rights reserved.