Abstract:
Our death is inevitable yet we are afraid to talk about it while we are vitally alive (Gawande, 2013; Jenkinson, 2015). Where do we learn about death and grief in our secular society? Most of us have never seen or touched a dead body nor are we comfortable about that thought (Larkins, 2007). How can we become death and grief literate (Noonan, Horsfall & Leonard, 2016) when we are well? Would we become more engaged if we imagined death creatively? This study disrupts the life/death binary by creating public spaces for innovative community performances that can embody death, including Death Cafes, Before I Die walls and decorating coffins. At Death Cafes people come together to drink tea, eat cake and discuss death (Miles & Corr, 2015). Before I Die walls create interactive, collective bucket-lists (Chang, 2013). Collaboratively decorating a coffin produces an impromptu choreography of life/death entanglement. Ongoing conversations recorded during the making sessions will chronicle both the materiality of the creative process and changes in ideation about death. My study will culminate in a public exhibition to share the creative practice outcomes of engaging imaginatively in dying while living.References:Chang, C. (2013). Before I die. St. Martin's Griffin.Gawande, A. (2014). Being mortal: Medicine and what matters in the end. Macmillan.Jenkinson, S. (2015). Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul. North Atlantic Books.Larkins, R. (2007). Funeral Rights. Penguin Group Australia.Miles, L., & Corr, C. (2015). Death Cafe What Is It and What We Can Learn From It. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 0030222815612602.Noonan, K., Horsfall, D., Leonard, R., & Rosenberg, J. (2016). Developing death literacy. Progress in Palliative Care.