Richmond BC, Canada #richmondartgallerybc
In response to the video work by Cauleen Smith in Codes of Silence, where the artist improvises a seemingly endless number of floral arrangements with the colors of mourning, we invite participants to develop their own shrine to honour and name those who have died.
Richmond-based artist Marina Szijarto will host creating a simple memorial shrine in memory of one’s ancestors, recently deceased loved ones, or to honour someone special in your community who has died. The completed shrines can be taken home for your own use, or added to the display in the Richmond Art Gallery’s Art Lounge.
The gathering is free, and for adults and young people aged 16+.
Limited spaces, registration required for this free event.
When we create a shrine in a community gathering or public context, it is a way to ask others to witness and share with us, and we with them. While creating and using a shrine, there is often a slowing down of time and movement – especially when one is in either shock and grief – all movements become a ritual in the creating of the shrine. Shrines can be a simple leaf, photograph or rock, to an elaborately built sculpture or a beautiful sacred space.
Participants are invited to bring a photocopy (on thin paper) of the person or pet they are making the shrine in honour of. All other materials will be provided.
Participants are welcome to bring personal items to pay tribute and commemorate a beloved pet or person, to add to the shrine. More details will be provided upon registration.
About the Artist:
Marina Szijarto is a professional artist and ritualist with over 25 years of experience in diverse contemporary arts practices including community-engaged arts, conceptual and sacred craft, celebrations, installations and shrines. Much of her work is site specific, being created for, and with, a particular landscape, community or season. She has been pioneering the creation of shrines to honour our dead for over 25 years and is artist in residence at Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery, co-‘creating the annual ‘Night for All Souls’ ritual, now in its 19th year.
www.nightforallsouls.com
