Death relics and reflections: engaging palliative staff to respond creatively to death experiences in hospice settings

ABSTRACT

We Die As We Live, is an art in health research project that positions palliative care staff, working in a myriad of capacities in hospital and hospice settings, as ‘Death Elders’ because of their expert knowledge and accumulated experience of death and dying. This paper speculates on the commemorative dimensions of death, dying and bereavement as embodied in socially-engaged artistic processes. The weekly art workshops I organised, during my yearlong artist residency at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, were designed to solicit meaningful reflection about death and its impact on the staff, using craft materials, mediums and processes that engaged the participants’ senses, and encouraged open discussion about mortality and impermanence. At the end of the residency, when these collective works on paper and ephemeral sculptures were presented in the waiting areas of St Vincent’s Hospital, they illustrated that every death is unique and every experience of death is unique, reinforced that we are all connected by this universal truth, and invited public discussion and reflection about the pervasive influence of death.

KEYWORDS:

• Art in healthcare setting
• artist in residence
• socially-engaged art
• death reflection workshops

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by a 2017 City of Melbourne Grant, funded by the Melbourne City Council.

Notes on contributors

Catherine Bell

Associate Professor Catherine Bell is a multi-disciplinary artist and academic teaching visual art in the Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University. Her creative-led research explores the role of the artist in the archive and healthcare setting, art on the margins, socially-engaged and relational approaches to art making, feminist and care ethics in collaborative practice and challenging taboos surrounding death and dying. Recent artist residencies in the oncology ward at St Vincent’s Hospital and Caritas Christi Hospice in Melbourne involved facilitating creative workshops with patients and staff to promote reflective and meaningful discussion on death and the dying.  She is represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne. https://suttongallery.com.au/artists/catherine-bell/