Art as Catalyst for Conversations about Death and Dying
Channel: Megan Bostic
Date: 26/06/2013

Grief as concept has informed my artwork ever since my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. After her death, I attempted to address grief in an intellectual way, uncovering my thought-process as it existed in mourning. Evaluating my own grief responses gave me artistic insight and emotional clarity and spurred an expansion in my work: I began to interview others about their own grief responses. This gradual shift in my work led me to begin community outreach efforts with a hospice organization, initiating an effort to document the stories of hospice patients. 
To effectively carry out the project, I analyzed research regarding grief as well as the definition, importance, and compulsion of sharing a legacy. This allowed me to establish a working hypothesis and model of implementation for documenting patients' legacies, with the intention being to provide a resource for other hospice programs.
From those experiences, I created an installation of my own artwork—my personal response to interacting with hospice patients and their stories—utilizing textile techniques and alternative materials. This component of the project aimed to bring awareness to the local community about hospice, as well as contribute to the culture of death awareness and acceptance.

Megan Bostic
Graduate Student, Fibers & Surface Design, 
Art and Design, 
College of Design, North Carolina State University 
Raleigh, NC, USA