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A conversation about the grieving process and the healing power of art in times of cascading loss
Slought and the Health Ecologies Lab at the University of Pennsylvania are pleased to announce On Grief and Transformation, a conversation with Adriene Jenik about the grieving process and the healing power of art in times of cascading loss, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 from 5:30-7:00pm at Slought. The event will will begin with an opportunity for those who are attending to speak and honor the names of those who have died. Next, there will be a presentation by Jenik, an end-of-life doula and professor of intermedia at Arizona State University, about The Artist's Grief Deck and a moderated conversation on grief, loss, and the arts of collaboration, followed by questions from the audience. The event is free to the public and is presented with the Hurford Center for the Arts and Humanities and the Departments of Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Haverford College.
"The most tragic form of loss isn't the loss of security," wrote Ernst Bloch. "It's the loss of the capacity to imagine that things could be different." From the COVID-19 pandemic to the climate crisis, as well as the daily struggle of racism and inequality experienced by so many and ever more intertwined in our lives and our communities, it seems as if we are constantly reckoning with cascading losses and incessant political violence. An enduring sense of despair and pessimism about the future has become commonplace, and especially for many young people who are experiencing the climate crisis in particular through the language of grief. Loss has become an intimate part of our lives, as we anticipate the death of ourselves, those we love, and all that which we value.
Yet conversations surrounding grief and loss can also fortify us, and even serve as a wellspring of connection and growth. As Sunita Puri, MD, writes in The New York Times, "our collective grief, varied as our reactions to it may be, can bind us together when it seems like nothing else will. It is one lens through which we can recognize our shared humanity." In this spirit, our conversation seeks to reframe current perspectives on grieving and offer insights into the relationship between healing and memory. Join us as we discuss how grief can be a catalyst for personal and individual transformation, and a pathway to finding solace and community with one another.
A response to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Artist's Grief Deck is a set of 60 medium format 'flashcards' that are individually designed by artists, sometimes in collaboration with grief workers. One side displays an original artwork, created by artists from around the world responding to our open call, and on the reverse is a 'grieving prompt.' These are memorial and processual actions that give the individual something to do – a gesture, a tiny performance, a movement, an act of mindfulness – in memoriam for someone or something whose loss they are grieving. As a toolkit, the decks have been disbursed for free to grief workers and community organizations, and can be accessed online here.
The Artists' Grief Deck is a project of the Artists' Literacies Institute (producer) and Adriene Jenik (creative producer), and was made possible by The Ohio's Hospice/ National Hospice Cooperative (executive producer), Daniel Abary (Deck and Web Design), and the artists and grief workers who contributed their talent and wisdom.
Adriene Jenik (she/they) is an artist, educator and end of life doula who resides in the high desert of California. Her computer and media art spans 3 decades, including pioneering work in interactive cinema and live telematic performance. She has been written about in The New York Times, published in The Drama Review, and recognized by the Rockefeller Foundation.
Her current creative research practice spans "data humanization" performances, public climate future readings with her ECOtarot deck, and experiments in extreme experiential learning. She is also the creative producer of The Artists' Grief Deck. Jenik serves as Professor of Intermedia at the School of Art, Arizona State University, affiliate faculty in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and Deset Humanities Center, and a sustainability scientist in the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation.