Performing common grief: “the We Grieve Project”, Clapton (2020 - 2021)

Millette, Holly-Gale (2022) Performing common grief: “the We Grieve Project”, Clapton (2020 - 2021). Performing Pandemic Grief: The Arts of Losing, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom. 17 - 18 Nov 2022.

Abstract

In this talk I would like to discuss the role of Community Activists, Display, and Public Performance in the expression of grief in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Late in 2019, I was approached by colleagues in the Clapton Commons Community Organisation to help devise a way to help our community come together to mourn the loss of multi-denominational neighbours and friends. I was asked to make use of some hoarding that was encircling a soon-to-be completed community rebuild project. We had nine panels to fill and the message had to be simple, impactful, and represent the intersectionality of the weekly ‘grief circles’ held on Clapton Common. These weekly gatherings hadbecome central to a community processing loss. The display could be seen from the main road leading in and out of Northeast Hackney. And soon it was a newsworthy public act that became a feature of North Hackney. Late in 2020, the display would take a performative turn when the community began posting ‘remembrance tags’ on what had come to be referred to as ‘The Grief Wall.’ Later, in a public performance, rosemary (for remembrance) sprigs were added to the display, as we ceremonially accounted for our year-long practice of grief.

I would like to discuss the practice of these community acts and performances via display in terms of process, ritual and social and cultural practices. It is interesting to note that the ‘We Grieve’ project later developed into a ‘We Welcome’ project, in the context of the rise in traumatised migrants arriving to our community following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. This seems to suggest that design and the arts are increasingly being resourced as a strategy to process intersectional grief and trauma
beyond -19.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: Holly-Gale Millette

Download statistics