β€œLight follows darkness, and darkness follows light. But it’s been centuries since human beings remembered that. We are not alone in the dark.” ~Clark StrandΝβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ 
 

The intention of this newsletter has always been to focus light through the dark void, to help loosen the intense grip that the fear of death has over most of us. We felt this journey venturing into the darkness to explore death best intersected with the highest forms of our collective human expression ~ art, music, dance, storytelling… the essence of spirit that keeps our humanity flowing. If we allow it, art ultimately creates us, and reveals to us who we truly are, how we really feel, and how we are connected to a much larger story. Once that occurs, what first felt like darkness might now be perceived as mystery, and mystery is not as scary as the dark. Mystery entices us to engage, and to be curious, and to keep searching. ~Karen

 

The Return the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt/ Fine Art Images/Heritage Images, via Getty Images

In How To Save a Sad, Angry, Lonely and Mean Society, writer David Brooks asks a seminal question, How Does Art Create Us? 

He references that perception is a creative act and that all artistic creation is elemental to our humanity. Bearing witness to works of art & culture makes us better perceivers. Brooks is convinced that consuming culture furnishes your mind with emotional knowledge and wisdom. 

He references Rembrandt’s painting, The Return the Prodigal Son. What we witness gazing at this painting is an emotional moment, a story about fracture and redemption. It is a painting about what it is like to finally realize your deepest yearnings β€” for forgiveness, safety, reconciliation, home. This is communicated solely through light, form, symbolism and paint, reflecting our humanity back to us, guiding us without words to feel; to help build empathy within us, and experience inclusion.  The Victorian art critic John Ruskin wrote, The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.

Read The New York Times piece How to Save a Sad, Lonely, Angry and Mean Society here.

 

Hélène Blanc

Rabbi Brous one of the most prominent rabbis in the US and author of The Amen Effect offers profound lessons on power in community in an age of collective loneliness and suffering. In this NYT Opinion piece, she writes about how to show up for each other in moments of joy, pain and vulnerability, how to invest in relationships of shared purpose, and how to build communities of care. She urges us not to isolate even if you are broken hearted, sick or lonely, and go toward the ones who will hold you tenderly, who will say with their bodies, I see you. You are not alone.

Read Train Yourself to Always Show Up in the NYT Opinion here.


Buy her book The Amen Effect here.

 

The notebook Moss brought to the execution chamber. He struggled to write his final words to Hancock.

As any chaplain does, chaplain Devin Moss accompanied Oklahoma death row inmate Phillip Hancock for a year to his death on November 30, 2023. Both men were atheists, and Moss grappled with knowing what to say to someone who doesn’t have supernatural faith. Heaven, hell, salvation: He had talked about it all with Hancock, but neither of them really believed in anything but people. What humans were capable of doing, for themselves and to one another.

Moss’s final words for Hancock were: In the beginning of this, when I asked what you really wanted out of a spiritual care adviser, it was Philippians chapter 4, Show me something real, show me something true. What is real is that you are loved, What is true is that you are not alone.

Read An Atheist Chaplain and a Death Row Inmate’s Final Hours at New York Times here.

 

Clockwise from left: Rebecca Godfrey, Peggy Guggenheim, and the author. Photo illustration by LaurenPeters-Collaer; Source photographs from Janet Johnson; Adam Golfer; Alamy

Ghost, Writer is the remarkable story of two women, friends Rebecca and Leslie, both writers, who share personal stories of love, life and loss in their friendship. What happens when Rebecca is suddenly facing a cancer that will take her life away before she has finished the book she is writing? She asks Leslie to complete it for her after she has died, leaving clues and breadcrumbs along the path for her.

Leslie’s journey is not just one of piecing together Rebecca’s intentions but imagining them. Leslie wrestles with conflicted emotions trying to preserve as much of Rebecca’s DNA as possible in the writing. They completed the book about Peggy Guggenheim together, keeping their bond alive, so when it was finally complete, Leslie had to embrace what was evident from the start - finishing the novel meant saying goodbye to her friend all over again.

Read the New Yorker article Ghost, Writer here.

Buy the novel Peggy here.

 

β€˜Whodunnit?’ (2014) by Rebecca Campbell. PHOTO: BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

In this WSJ piece Unpacking My Father’s Library, Michael O’Donnell reflects on the profound weight and gift of going through his late father’s bookshelves. It was a journey of touch and smell, filled of memories, discovery and imagination. In the end, he realizes the symbolic nature of the delicate balance of holding on and letting go.

Read Unpacking my Father’s Library at Wall Street Journal here.
 

Illustration by Sneha Shanker

In the realm of death arts and culture, living funerals offer a profoundly personal departure from tradition. Originating in 1990s Japan and gaining global popularity, these unique gatherings defy tradition, allowing a departure from the conventional funeral script.

Michael, known as the death guy, unexpectedly experienced this during his 40th birthday, transforming the day into a silent, introspective affair. Claire, facing stage 4 breast cancer, drew inspiration from Kris Hallenga's FUNeral and organized intimate gatherings, aiming to share love and gratitude before the inevitable farewell. In these personal narratives, living funerals emerge as powerful, intimate reflections on life, love, and saying goodbye while still breathing.

Read I didn’t realize I was so loved: the people hosting their own living funerals in The Guardian here.

 

The Sweetness of Music by Laurie Anderson

In grieving the death of his mother, and coping with the memory of her things, journalist Anderson Cooper invited artist musician Laurie Anderson to his podcast All There Is to share, among other beautiful musings, her belief that death is the release of love. In 2011, a few years before the death of her partner, musician Lou Reed, she had created an art exhibition Forty-Nine Days in the Bardo, as a tribute to her longtime dog companion Lolabelle. As a reliquary, Anderson mixed the ashes of Lolabelle’s body with mud and clay and formed them into a violin, her signature instrument as a performer. She recalled that as she mixed the material water released her (Lolabelle’s) smell. It's as if she had reappeared, run out of the ocean or jumped out of the bathtub. I was completely overwhelmed.

Listen to the CNN podcast here.

Read about Laurie Anderson’s exhibit 49 Days in the Bardo here.

Watch Heart of A Dog, a film for Lolabelle by Laurie Anderson here.
 

TΓ³tem Theatrical Release Poster

TΓ³tem, a gentle caress of a film, is the official feature film entry from Mexico to the 2024 Academy Awards, now playing in theaters. Writer-director Lila AvilΓ©s’ movie is a tale of anticipatory grief told through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl whose family is in crisis; a beautiful ensemble piece in which grief and celebration are tightly interwoven; a luminous and soul-nourishing microcosm built on profound love in the face of impending grief. 

Watch the trailer for TΓ³tem here.


Read the Guardian review of TΓ³tem here.

 

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto, known best for his enigmatic scores for films like The Revenant, and for being a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, died in 2023. 

Sakamoto recorded his last album, 12, in a diary-like fashion while living alongside cancer during the years of the COVID lockdown. 12 is a spare and elegiac series of moment to moment compositions reckoning with mortality through the refined vessel of his deep relationship to sound and composition.

Listen to 12 on Spotify here.

Learn more about Yellow Magic Orchestra on Wikipedia here.

 

Resources

Hurray for the Riff Raff’s song Alibi from forthcoming album The Past Is Still Alive is a song full of grief and vulnerability. It is an ode to lead singer Alynda Segarra’s father who passed away before they began recording this project. They said Alibi is a plea … A reckoning with time and memory. The song is exhausted with loving someone so much it hurts.

Watch the video for Alibi here.

Listen on Spotify here.

Waking Up to the Dark, Clark Strand’s provocative book, urges us to look at the consequences of avoiding the dark on society, the planet and our souls. He says, Darkness is the one remaining revolutionary act. Changing the political order does not matter. The person who chooses to turn off the lights and lie awake in darkness embraces the truth of a life before and beyond all of these. The only way back to the path we once traveled on as a species is through the darkness of deep time.

Order the book here.
 

Exit Strategy’s Art & Culture Monthly Reader is curated by Karen Bellone and Kirby Lee, co-founders and doulas for the dying at The Seventh Sense serving Hudson Valley, NY. Our intention is to refocus the narrative around death, dying and grief to raise awareness and consciousness, through the lens of arts, culture, storytelling and innovation.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you feel might benefit from these resources and articles.

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