The Grief Space
The Grief Space
08, March, 2024
An exhibition at RCA curated by and featuring the works of Amy Hsu Tzu Chen, Dewi Ayisha Rachmandari, Naomi Delorme, and Ziqi Cao. Through this exhibition, we propose a tender and inclusive space for grief—one that fosters a creative, collaborative, and experimental approach to understanding loss in a public setting.
As part of the exhibition, a workshop invites visitors to express their thoughts and emotions through writing, drawing, and collage-making. The responses shared on the wall become part of the exhibition itself, amplifying individual voices in the collective experience of grief.
Imagine
What if there is a space where the lights of the changing seasons pour in, where you could watch the world swiftly pass you by, yet you still feel at peace?
As time seems to stop there, and you feel safe in its womb-like coziness—fluffy and soft, quiet and serene—your heartache starts to rest and fall asleep.
With the comfort of the books in your hand, it feels as if you are reading your own thoughts, your eyes start to get blurry with the tears you finally feel free to release.
What if there is a space like this whenever your grief needs a home?
Aim
Focus
Drawing from our personal experiences of loss and the broader lack of societal support for grief, we aim to create a project that fosters care and understanding for those navigating loss. Our vision is to establish an inclusive space—one that welcomes both communal gatherings and quiet solitude—where all forms of grief are acknowledged and accepted without judgment.
Tactility & Gentleness
How can a space for grief provide comfort and warmth?
Inclusivity & Acceptance
How can a space for grief form a sense of community that embraces the needs of both solitude and togetherness?
Calmness & Slowness
How can we create a sense of safety within a public space that allows one to slow down and unwind?
These core considerations guide the formation of The Grief Space. To create an environment that feels like a ‘home’ for grief, we drew inspiration from interiors that evoke coziness through textures and colors. We selected a pastel color palette and incorporated soft, fluffy textures, designing a layout that ensures privacy for each individual.
To foster understanding and companionship, we curated books that resonated with us in times of grief. The artwork displayed on the walls presents multidisciplinary expressions of grief—writing, illustration, and photography—reflecting the diverse ways individuals experience and process loss. The display features a layered design, with translucent text titles overlaying writing and abstract art. This invites viewers to lift the first layer to fully see what lies beneath, symbolizing the complexity of understanding one’s grief. Additionally, we designed a workshop that encourages personal expression through drawing, writing, and collage-making.
Sound plays a crucial role in shaping the ambiance. We created an original composition blending piano improvisation with voice recordings to cultivate a slow, peaceful atmosphere. This intentional use of sound establishes a gentle boundary for the space, welcoming those who seek slowness while subtly discouraging those in a rush.
The Grief Space
Spaces, small and discreet the word deceptively demands to take up space. Derived from the Latin Spatium meaning 'space' or 'extent', spaces has evolved to refer to areas or intervals that are available, empty, or unoccupied. Physical spaces, virtual spaces, conceptual spaces. Functioning as forms of holding, a space where things can be contained, reserved, or kept in abeyance. A space can be a physical location or a conceptional environment designed for a designated use.
Grief, paradoxical and slippery to define, affects each and every one of us in numerous capacities; the loss of a loved one, the loss of a dream, grief for the destruction of the natural world and vital environmental resources, witnessing the sorrows of the world; wars, pandemics, the millions made refugees, lives cruelly upended and lost. Grief for a lost job, a failed relationship, for loss of a home or loss of primal needs such as community and a sense of social belonging.
To what extent do we make space for grief in public spaces? To what extent is a public space for grief understood as a form of social care? The Grief Space is here to fill up, occupy, form a container, a vessel, create a space, physical and tangible, to sit with alongside this universal, mischievously tricky to hold human experience.
We invite you to sit, to look, to think, to share, to make space for something that binds us collectively.
Your grief is welcome here.