Nowadays, the act of mourning has become more private, often veiled from others.
People are never taught how to mourn. They are never warned that death leaves them at the mercy of a legion of human terrors: ones of flashes of rage, the silent deceitful settling in of pain and sadness, the exhausting weight of guilt and the waves of anguish that creep in time and time again.
What happens after death to the people that remain? The passage of time often seems to be the only remedy for grief, but does it ever plateau after?
For something so fundamental to being human, modern societyʼs dismissal of grief has left behind a dysfunctional culture that emphasises stoicism. All thatʼs left is to pretend, everyone has become good at that.
An Ode to Mourning serves as a physical manifestation rooted in the loss of the artist’s grandmother and documents the fragility and silence that comes with the mourning journey. Confronting the reality of loss and operating as a cathartic means of closure, the work directs itself as a metaphorical shedding from a catastrophic stage of life.
As a means to normalise the conversation about death, to learn that these losses are beyond oneʼs control. Itʼs unpredictable and they will be brought to their knees.
Let them, fall to your knees and be humbled.