Exploring grief through art

SUBMISSIONS have opened for a unique art exhibition exploring grief.

In August, Hope Bereavement Care (Hope) will once again stage its The Art of Grieving exhibition, which was launched for the first-time last year as part of the organisation’s inaugural Grief Week.

Consisting of variety of events across the week, the initiative, which will also return later this year, aims to normalise the “universal, human experience of grieving”.

Now, the organisation is seeking expressions of interest for the exhibition’s second edition, with submissions invited from artists, musicians, filmmakers and poets who have experienced the loss of a loved one or friend and have used their creative medium as a tool to explore their grief or share their story.

Hope’s Melinda Hopper said the organisation was blown away by the response to the exhibition last year and was looking forward to staging it again later in the year.

“It really resonated with people exhibiting their work or coming along to look at the works,” she said.

“It’s really meaningful for the people that engage in art as part of that therapeutic process in working through their grief because sometimes their thoughts and feelings can’t be put into words.

“But, you put a paintbrush in their hand and they’re able to process some of the things going on for them in a different way.”

For those who visited the exhibition last year, Ms Hopper said the experience of learning about other people’s journeys and relating to their grief, was profound.

“A lot of people really find comfort in connecting with others through that shared experience, and I think this is a further extension of that,” she said.

The Art of Grieving exhibition will be housed at the Geelong Regional Library and Heritage Centre between August 16-28.

Submissions will close on Friday, June 20 and artists will be notified if their work has been selected for exhibition by Friday, June 27.

Driven by the mission that “no one should be alone in their grief”, Hope has been providing its bereavement services for free to the local community for more than 40 years.

The organisation is managed by a small team and receives no government funding.

Local businesses interested in sponsoring Grief Week and its program of events, are encouraged to get in touch with Hope via email at [email protected]

For more information about the art exhibition, or to submit an expression of interest, click here.