︎ Grief and Language: Workshops + Gatherings ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎︎
Grief Must be Love With Nowhere to Go is a collaboration between Chris Alton and Emily Simpson. Having each been through significant losses in our mid-20s, we found the English vocabulary for communicating experiences of grief and bereavement to be lacking. We began having conversations about loss through art making and invited others to join us, in the hope of finding common ground.
Over the past 6 months we’ve been holding spaces for people to come together and share their experiences of living with loss. We’ve held shared dinners; where people are invited to bring a dish associated with the person they’ve lost. We’ve spent afternoons sewing with others; making wearable patches that communicate our grief (loosely influenced by Victorian mourning customs). We’ve invited people to sit together and share music that reminds them of the person who’s died or their broader experience of grief. With each gathering, the activity has acted as a ‘softener’ for difficult conversations; where the acts of sharing food, sewing, or listening to music create a space that words are invited to fill.
In order to facilitate these gatherings, we’ve both undertaken specialist training (Mental Health First Aid and Counselling Skills). We have also worked closely with an access consultant to understand how we can facilitate both our own needs, and the needs of participants before and after the sessions.
The workshops and gatherings where delivered with support from Bloc Projects, 422 Arts and with funding from Arts Council England.
For futher information, or to enquire about how this workshop could be adapted to your organisation please send an emai to: emilyjrsimpson@gmail.com
