Excuse me, your grief is showing
"Excuse me, your grief is showing" is a collection of 8 books making up my doctoral research project in therapeutic arts practice. Of these, there are 6 intersubjective books that show the creative explorations with 6 individuals around their significant and particular losses. These volumes are unique to each person, that show what stood out from our relational encounters as ordinary everyday grief was expressed between us.
Diverse in size, creativity, and style, the books are presented in the ways they were called to be done. A graphic novel, a sewn boro, an altered book are some of the ways these stories are shown. Two volumes bookend these 6 stories, that give context, methodological significance and conceptual considerations on what and how we researched, as well as what stayed as meaningful. Included also is a reflexive account of the art-making processes that informed the creation of the creative books and my own responses and resonances in being with loss. The research was completed in 2016 through The Miecat Institute, in Melbourne, Australia. Links to view the entire collection can be found below, or to buy copies in book form or as PDFs.
I'd love to get feedback, responses or contact from you should you read or acquire this work.
excuse me, your grief is showing
An inquiry into sharing everyday loss
The everyday-ness of grieving is explored using arts as a way to express what feels impossible, in an arts-based experiential doctoral project. From a grief landscape mapped on a satin gown, to reflective matchbox dioramas, this book explores a need to show loss in its relational contexts. Being the first of 8 books exploring diverse ways that ordinary grief is expressed, it offers the context of this research inquiry and its methodological significances.
Book 1
picking up the thread with mary
A boro
"Who will mind me?" was a recurrent question for Mary after her partner died. She felt a sense of isolation and despair when she began exploring her embodied grief with Nona. As a fabric artist, Mary's creative way of being with the threads of her experiencing influenced how Nona recorded their art making processes together. The original sewn 'boro' book is reproduced here, capturing the details of textures and folds in their collaborations.
Book 2
is this me doing grief?
A graphic novel with Carlos
After a traumatic unexpected break up with his 'life partner', Carlos broke down, depression, anxiety, panic followed. When he met Nona he wanted to draw one long continuous line, to release him from his torturous loss. This graphic novel is where Nona picked up Carlos's line to sketch and show how they explored through making art and being together, repairing his trust in relational encounters and in his own ability for making choices.
Book 3
Traces & tracks
A co-inquiry mapping Sharon's grief
Sharon's Dad was a farmer from the salt lakes district, he had taught her how to navigate the world in which she lived. After he died, Sharon wanted to be with her grief, though not alone, she creatively explored with Nona to shape what mattered for her. She manipulated materials mapping her grief, looking for sign posts. Unhurried, with all her senses and often in silence, forms emerged, pushed against, revealed and disintegrated. This raw, visual account is what remains from these collaborations, as Sharon and Nona were present with her father's absence.
Book 4
the tale of enough
An altered showing with Pearl
Pearl needed to keen. Her mother had died a couple of years ago, but it was complex, there was so much unexpressed grief. Nona and Pearl explored using lively arts inquiries, performance, story telling, and movement. A layered tale of losses emerged as past traumas were re-storied. Would this be enough? This altered book is a palimpsest that captures the layers of significance in these relational explorations in ordinary and remarkable ways.
Book 5
he gave me wings
Text messages from Karen
Her husband was unwell but within weeks he had died. It was shortly after this that Karen approached Nona to try and make sense of her experiencing of intense grief. Together they used arts processes to shape what couldn't yet be formed in words. This slender volume carries raw poetic gatherings, barely voiced, alongside iphone images of places of significance visited on the anniversary of her husband's death. Meaning is carried through the ordinary-ness of loss.
Book 6
traversing loss
My response to Lucy
Lucy became a full time carer when her adult daughter moved back home with her. Her daughter was experiencing significant mental health events that required much of Lucy's attention, time and advocacy. Lucy co-created with Nona using arts processes to explore the chaos of overwhelm, and her accumulated grief. This little book of images and poetic renderings are Nona's responses to their relational interactions of what stayed with her.
Book 7
showings & tellings
In being with everyday loss
Co-inquiring with 6 individuals' diverse and specific losses has been captured through the different media used, and the size and shapes of volumes 2-7. Each book responds to the particularities present for each grieving person. This 8th volume shares reflections of what is lively and important from Nona's perspective as a practitioner, through poetic responses and matchbox artworks. Reflexive discussions follow on what came to be known through the tensions and paradoxes inherent in being present with absence, as well as considerations on the profound interconnectedness of the intersubjective field.
Book 8
