| Commoditization of Mourning deals with the materialization of mourning practices. Some people go on hikes through the forest, well I like to hang out in cemeteries. One thing I've noticed is people like to express their mourning through gaudy objects like bright fake flowers and plastic jesus figures. It's such a strange gesture, a symbol of life yet so artificial, then after a short life, into the garbage they go. But why do we do this? Does it really make a difference? Isn't it cheapening the experience? For this piece I brought a gravestone to stores and set it on their bed displays. Maybe one day we'll have large stores (Funeral-Mart), where we can walk through and pick our hip grave plots along with trendy seasonal deco. I got kicked out of the stores pretty quickly, however I was able to get one store clerk to laugh! |
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