Nepenthes: The Urban Space for Grieving (Final Year Degree Work) 2019

Death, loss and grieving are things we can all relate to, regardless of culture, as everyone has lost, if not will, lose someone close to them at some point in their lives. Today in Western Culture, society has become fixated with the idea of an everlasting youth. Something which I feel has resulted in us being disconnected from death due to the improvements of technology and healthcare. This has resulted in the subject of death becoming a form of taboo that people tend to avoid and shy away from. Too often, this topic feels like ripping a plaster off a fresh wound. But what if death and grieving did not have to be that way? What if by talking about grief or making the topic of grief more public and less concealed, people would be more willing to open up and talk rather than keeping their emotions and feelings bottled up ending in damaging their mental health? What if by doing this, others’ felt a sense of togetherness and assurance that their emotions are just as valid and normal as everyone else’s? Nepenthes is a personal project that challenges the taboo surrounding death and grieving by creating a secular public space for grief within Glasgow’s urban landscape.