Bethany Chan

memori

“We all have different views and what’s important to us, and certainly when we’re dying, what’s important becomes more internalized.”

—Loretta Downs (Founder, Chrysalis, End-of-Life Inspirations)

An exploration into ritual and objects in our relationship with understanding death, ​memori​ is a contemporary adaptation of “memento mori” and is a series of articles structured around contemplations from Buddhist 9-step death meditation practices. It deconstructs the intent of each meditation point (inevitability, uncertainty, spirituality/mind) into approachable exercises and pairs this practice with temporal incense objects to provide sensory grounding and realignment in the present.

In this combination of object with ritual, the performance also evolves to become a symbolic “burning of self/self death” and a vessel to contain oneself through ashes. ​memori​ intends to deconstruct the taboos and barriers around one of the largest facets of life—death.