You'll be the Death of me

If there is one thing that is definite in life, it is that you will die. Considering death is a once in a lifetime opportunity, we are so terrified to talk about it. An event that could be so well organised for an individual tends to end up being nothing like what the deceased person ever wanted. Whether it is a sudden death or an expected one, we still leave fragments of ourselves on people’s lives even after we die. As the human population rises, so does the death toll, and with this we are running out of burial space to mourn over loved ones. The use of urns become the most practical use when the factor of space is involved. However, many people find it difficult to come to terms that their 6 ft. 2 husband has now been condensed down into a fine dust in a pot. The 18th century saw the rise of popularity in mourning objects. Victorian death culture enabled the continued existence of the deceased, with the use of a lock of hair. The desire to see death not as a permanent event, but something to prolong their existence. Once the person dies, it brings a new life to an object, as the piece of hair will live on once cut, as the person’s body decays. Even Queen Victoria kept onto a lock of Prince Albert’s hair after his sudden death. However, if I left a piece of my hair to a loved one, it would just remind them of the years of bleaching and split ends I have endured. Today, mourning objects are less common, as we tend to be remember people by objects such as a concert ticket, a photograph or a bottle of alcohol. However, I could not think of anything worse than being remembered for a bottle of pink gin. I want my loved ones to find use out of the objects I leave them. From memories, I have translated these experiences into tools that convey autobiographical metaphors. The first tool is a recent experience at work where a customer made me intensely cry. The blue bottle will collect the tears, and then when you are finished crying, you pour the tears into the red bottle and swirl the victim. The second collection of objects are a range of teeth knuckle-dusters. This is for use only in the left hand, as a teacher told me in primary school that I could only write with my right hand and proceed to force me to write with my right hand (can be used on teacher if you find her). This mourning trolley breathes the essences of me, from the hands holding the knuckle-dusters, to the hair on the cheese and pineapple hedgehog. Through the different objects placed on the trolley, I am questioning whether death is a permanent event and if with the use of mourning objects the deceased can live on.