Community Remembrance Temple

Community Remembrance Temple

The Remembrance Temple will travel to different communities and offer a space for healing.

This Temple creates a safe space for people to acknowledge their feelings of loss while being surrounded by their community. Many people today have been affected by tragedies both large and small and carry this sadness with them every day. For some, the idea of going to a large memorial event is overwhelming so no healing can happen because they do not feel safe in that type of setting. This project offers a unique opportunity for people to acknowledge their grief and heal in an intimate setting while honoring those who have passed on.

These events take place in and around a 10-foot conical structure. It is a large space made from wood with walls of silk, fiber locks and a large tree root ball in the center. The wooden structure represents the strength of the community, the power we have when we come together, unite and support each other. The skin/walls of the structure are a transparent silk gauze with organic fiber locks felted to it.  This fiber exemplifies the fragility and vulnerability of the human experience. The silk is undyed and the fiber locks are natural colours; but, if you look closely at the locks as they move in the breeze you will see tiny speckles of colours of the rainbow that make up our world. Like people, silk is delicate and needs to be cared for and nurtured to survive. The root ball in the center represents the core, strength, heart, history, and memory of life.

When people arrive they are given a piece of handmade paper with the prompt “what brought you here?” They will be invited to share their story with others in attendance and to enter the Remembrance Temple. When someone enters the space they will see the large root ball in the middle of the room and be invited to write the names of their lost loved ones directly onto the root, representing the core of the community. These names are eventually hand carved into the root ball. There is also a handmade book which people can write their story in. 

In my work I am constantly obsessed with softening the impact of the world on the individual, creating a pleasant moment of calm or pause, or just a quick shift of reality into a more thoughtful or relaxed realm. But art is also about bringing people together and having a shared experience with community. It is more important than ever for us to feel we are not lost in the abyss and have our communities to give us strength. This project focus’s on the process of grieving and mourning. It creates an opportunity for different communities to come together through healing and pay homage to those they have lost but who will not be forgotten.

This Remembrance Temple travels to several different communities offering healing and an opportunity to honor those who have transitioned. Ultimately the structure will be allowed to naturally decompose in an outdoor location and return to the earth.