L I F E G O E S O N,
Until it Doesn't
Master's Thesis 2008
Pratt Institute
Featured in 2008 London Design Festival and
Surface Magazine's 2009 Thesis Guide
This project deals with the North American funeral ritual. I examined the ways in which the dead are treated both in current North American society and in other cultures, the underlying concepts behind these ways of doing things, and whether these practices truly serve the best interests both of the dead and of the living. Through my work I have sought to create value and memory through the use of symbolic content drawn from a number of traditions, as well as to promote healing through the thoughtful use of ritual.
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THE IDEA OF LIVING WITH DEATH:
Memento is a dual purpose piece of furniture that functions as a coffee table during its firststage, and as a coffin in its second. Memento will absorb the life and love that occurs around it, creating personal identifications with it. Over time it will aquire a unique patina that will serve a a testimony to the life it served as a silent witness to. Constructed soley of pine, and treated with a soap finish, Memento earns its value through the symbolism inherent in its design, rather than expensive materials.
ONE OF MAN'S EARLIEST SYMBOLS OF REBIRTH.
"Any animal that has an annual cycle...becomes symbolic of the process that moves the seasons"
-Joseph Campbell.
Fontis is an urn that reinforces the idea of the cosmic cycle. It is a scattering urn that can be kept as a personal memorial. It is slip cast in ceramic, and can be used as a vase, or watering pitcher after the ashes have been spread.
A LASTING REMINDER OF THE COSMIC CYCLE.
Sero is an abstraction of the sprouting seed. It is a multiple urn system that is intended for families who wish to share the ramains of a loved one, allowing for each member to say good bye in their own personal way. Inside the urn there is a small container for the ashes, and when one is ready to let go, it can be removed and placed into the ground, with the main container serving as a device to dig the hole. After burial Sero serves as a personal memorial to the deceased, and as a reminder of the great cycle of life.
CREAMATION IS TRADITIONALLY A VERY VISCERAL EXPERIENCE, THE NAVIS URN MIRRORS THAT EXPERIENCE.
The vessel has a very important role in death mythology, and serves as the main aesthetic element in this ritual object. Navis is meant to be burned. It is placed into a body of water and set on fire by lighting its lid, which is a composite of charcoal and walnut. This manufactured ritual reinforces the idea that through the destruction of the vessel ( the body), the soul is released (smoke), representing the trancendence of the physical world.
Bringing life to a place of death.
Nature has been pushed out of our burial grounds. The Genesis stone, in conjunction with the Tumulus marker, seeks to change that. Genesis stone are influenced by the Jewish tradition of placing stones on graves. The constuction is a mixture of earth and flower seed and bound together in a gum arabic matrix. The stones serve as an offering, and after a rain sorm will break down, like the body, and out of them sprouts life, which represents the soul. Like us, through the destuction of its primary, temporal form, its true purpose is realized.
A LASTING, LIVING MEMORIAL..
In conjunction with the Genesis stones, Tumulus transforms a landscape to create a natural, living grave site. Tumulus is made of solid oak, so it too will degrade into the environment. The Genesis stones are placed in the offering tray, and over time the growth will over take the grave. Tumulus contains a ceramic magnet, which can be detected up to 1000 years, and an RFID tag, which will last for 500 years. The goal of the Genesis stones and the Tumulus marker is to promote healing through ritual participation, somethin lacking in our culture.
