HELLO DEATH, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

Center for Craft, Asheville, NC. July 29 - September 16, 2022

In the wake of Covid-19 and the social unrest that has defined our time, the presence of death and grief in many of our lives has been unavoidable. Between 2020-2022, artist-researcher, community organizer, and Center for Craft grant recipient Macon Reed built Hello Death, Where Have You Been All My Life? an immersive, sensorial installation that harnesses the social function of ritual space to reflect, process grief, heal, and envision alternative futures. The show revolves around a monumental, central altarpiece covered in imagined ritual objects. These Day-Glo paper clay objects are based on Reed’s interviews with workers in the field of death and dying, including death doulas, chaplains, funeral parlor directors, grave diggers, and green burial advocates.

Artist: Macon Reed

Role: Organizing curator, exhibition management, curatorial research, interpretive writing, installation

Photography by Black Box Photography, ℅ Center for Craft