Death: A Conversation
It all begins with a conversation. A conversation can give many insights into what a person may think, feel, and view the world around them. A conversation helps to get information across. Then why is it so that death is not present in conversation with loved ones?
For this thesis project, I focused on the absence or avoidance of this topic and how this affects the individual. I then honed in on my brother’s death. He passed in the first week of 2019. His death was sudden and tragic for my family. His death opened a can of worms that I am still healing from. My parents and I never had a conversation about death and what happens when someone dies. I felt a strong disconnect from those around me in his wake, myself, and towards my mother. This project allowed me to explore this disconnect and make a deeper connection with my mother through a book describing the events and writing a letter to her in the book. Along with the book, I made a traveling exhibit that would be held in community centers to get more people to initiate the conversation about death with each other.
“Death accompanies us throughout life and that therefore not simply the end of life.”
— Françoise Dastur
Visual Language
I looked into the stages of grief and visualized them as lines that can be drawn infinitely in any order. I wanted this because there is no “right“ way to feel grief.
The Story
In the book, I break down the events by dates. Each chapter will have a line representing one of the stages I felt: disconnect, avoidance, alienation, and acceptance. In total there are five chapters.
chapter I: the news
chapter II: the next day
chapter III: the preparation
chapter IV: the nine day wake
chapter V: the conversation
Euphemisms
This is the second wall the visitors will encounter after The Story. Here, I displayed out some of the euphemisms we use in conversation.
Emotions
This is the third wall the visitors will encounter after Euphemisms. Here, I displayed out some of the stages of grief. From each stage, I ask the visitor a question. They can either answer yes, no or not applicable with color-coded stickers.
Conversation
This is the fourth wall the visitors will encounter after Emotions. This wall serves as a guide for the visitors. There is a message on the wall saying “Let’s take a moment to converse together.“
Prompts
This is the fifth wall visitors will encounter. This wall is inside the rooms where the visitors can come in and have a conversation about death with their loved ones. The two rooms have different
Proposed Site
Community Centers
These centers give a multitude of resources to the community. They get a diversity of people coming in. This allows a variety of people to see the exhibition. The first location of the exhibit will be in Sacred Heart Community Service Center in their Learning Center.
