Death Café at Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery | Nov 9, 2023

Will Gorlitz, March, 2002. Oil on canvas, 122 cm (diameter)

Death Café at Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery
Thursday, November 9, 2023
7pm to 8:30pm |  Free | Registration Required

Join me as I host a Death Café as part of SOS: A Story of Survival. Part II – The Body. This a three-part art exhibition exploring what survival is, what it looks like and what it means to survive. It follows Part I – The Image in 2022 and precedes Part III – The Planet which will conclude the series in 2024.

A death café creates space for an open and relaxed conversation about death and dying over a cup of tea and a sweet snack.

Why is it "morbid" to talk about something that happens to every single one of us? Not talking about death won't make it easier to manage.
 
A Death Café creates space for an open and relaxed conversation about death and dying over a cup of tea and a sweet snack. The Death Café model aims to shift the conversation around death from fear or avoidance to familiarity and comfort. This way of thinking and relating to death is one of the interests of the exhibition SOS: A Story of Survival, Part II – The Body, which frames death as another stage in one's personal survival, suggesting that one does not fail to survive when the human self ultimately ceases.
 
Participants will sit around tables of 3-6 people for a confidential, group-directed discussion. Bring your experiences to share; bring your questions to ask. Share only what you are comfortable with—there is no pressure to tell the details of your personal story.
 
We aim to create a space welcoming all spiritual, religious, or non-religious beliefs. This is a welcoming space to 2SLGBTQ folks. A Death Café is not counselling or grief support. If you are in an acute or deeply challenging phase of grief, there are free supports available at places like Bereaved Families of Ontario or The Compassionate Friends of Canada.
 
Schedule for the evening:
7:00 – 7:15 pm – Brief Curatorial Tour of the Exhibition
7:20 – 8:30 pm – Death Café
8:30 – 9:00 pm – Slow Exit (at participants' need)
 
Registration is required. Register at: go.kwag.ca/DeathCafe
Thursday, 9 November
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
FREE