I started this blog on 4 April 2014. That’s just over 3 years ago. It’s time for a new home page that reflects the changes that have happened to this blog and to me during that time. This post keeps a copy of where it all started. “We are all just a car crash, a […] Read more…
Tonight I setup a new instagram account: upcycling_grief. This account will visually document the process of transforming Robbie’s stuff into new forms. Currently all his stuff has been sitting in his bedroom for the 5 years since he died. It was 5 years on Tuesday 4 April 2017 – 4 days ago. The energy has stagnated […] Read more…
Just watched the news story on ABC24 TV which culminated in the unveiling of the hand-made quilt made from Carly’s favourite clothes. Listening to Sonya Ryan’s, (Carly’s Mum) story a few things resonated with me: Sonya spoke about the love connection between her and her daughter and it is that connection that has kept her going. […] Read more…
It will be 5 years this year on 4/4 that Robbie died – well physically died. I feel a shift. I feel OK with this. It’s a total recognition at a cellular level that his death is a material thing – an eternal thing. [note – interesting observation – on reading back what I wrote […] Read more…
The everyday activity of washing dishes in the communal kitchen at the Caravan Park created an emergent space for a story about death to be shared and heard and absorbed. Up to the wrists in suds and the sound of melamine crockery clashing against metallic cutlery, I commented on the blue t-shirt with a Mickey Mouse on […] Read more…
I made a new friend at Uni last week – Jen. In passing, Jen mentioned my research topic (Becoming death and grief literate when we are well) to her teenage son who is in Year 12. She was amazed when her usually mono-syllabic teen sparked up and said to pass on to me that there […] Read more…
Libby, Robbie’s uni friend, wrote this poem for Robbie within a day or so of his death. We used it on the bookmark handed out at Robbie’s funeral. Full of life, full of love, full of passion and heart, Living each day creating beautiful art. Touching the lives of those you passed by, Leaving an impression, […] Read more…
“You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.” I fell in love with this quote. It spoke to my heart. That place is a delicious place between dimensions where anything is still possible. Anything such as Robbie […] Read more…
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/death-in-art-_n_6849376.html?section=australia [summary excerpt from above source] A Brief History Of Artists Grappling With Loss And Death “Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it,” Joan Didion wrote in A Year of Magical Thinking. Many of us are blind to the realities of loss and mourning until we’re […] Read more…
I have only slipped away into the next room I am I and you are you Whatever we were to each other That we are still Call me by my old familiar name Speak to me in the easy way you always used Put no difference into your tone Wear no forced air of solemnity […] Read more…