25 October 2008

My Hope for the Future of Human Memorial

Every time I hear the sound of taps being played, I immediately cringe and try to turn off whatever it is coming from. My head sinks as I remember the numerous times in which that simple song has thrown my mother into a fit of tears and despair. I remember my uncle, Alan, whom I never met, being shipped home to the states after being killed his first night in Vietnam. I remember the stories of my mother’s childhood and how Alan was always the favorite. I remember all of this and more from a simple song, all of this despair thrust into the open from a few notes played on a bugle.

Memory is a very complicated process which can be triggered by various objects or sensory stimulations, certain smells can remind us of our first time decorating the Christmas tree, while the feel of a newspaper can remind us of our first time making a soap box derby car with our father. Every memory is ignited by simple triggers, especially death. The death of a loved one leaves a memory usually more present and sensitive than others.
It reminds us of the individual’s life, our relationship with them, the effects they had our lives and the darkest fact, that they are no longer, and will never again be in our lives. In modern day society, the process of grieving is interwoven with a certain set of images and rituals. When someone dies they are usually put into a coffin, a funeral is held, and they are buried with a granite headstone to commemorate their life. While there are minute variations to this process, death stereotypically follows this pattern.

Many of the key triggers which invoke the memories of a loved ones death are the “products of death”. These “products” in present society stick with a pattern most people relate to. The black clothes at a funeral, the gothic darkly stained wood coffin, and the ever-lasting trigger, a granite or metal grave marker. All of these signifiers carry the emotions of grief and the emotions felt at the end of ones life: the pain of dying, death itself, and the excruciating pain and sorrow felt and expressed by a teary eyed funeral.

It is a surprise why design has not spent more effort trying to delve into this field. The current process of commemorating someone’s life is spent focusing on their death itself. As a field we strive to improve the life of individuals through a better redesign of an experience, it seems almost impossible for a designer to not recognize that this process could use a redesign. I find it appalling that when a loved one dies we spend the rest of our time on this planet mourning their death instead of celebrating their life.

In an attempt to lighten death, several artists have joined together to create a “boutique death care” gallery in Seattle, Washington. The solution presented by these artists vary widely, from an alteration of current death products to a whole new style of product of memorial.

The revision of the current product is best illustrated by Greg Ludgrens design. As an alternative to the mundane and morbid gravestone, Ludgren has devised a process of creating headstone out of thick slabs of glass. Due to his solution, instead of a graveyard being considered a dark and gloomy resting place, when implemented, his designs bring an abstract colored light to the surrounding area, transforming the gloom into a play of color and light.

Mike Levitt, another artist part of the death care gallery, takes a very different approach to reforming the memorial process. Due to his desire for individuals to be memorialized for whom they were and not what there death was like, he creates nine inch custom figurines in the likeness of a passed loved one. Adding a further spin to this new interpretation, the figurines have poseable limbs and accessories.

While this group of artists have begun the process of reforming society’s views upon death products, there is still much work needed to be done. We as designers should strive to find a transformative way in which the death of a loved one can be remembered in a way, which is more reliant on the person’s life, than their death. The kind of work which is needed from our field in not just needed in post death products, but also the pre death process.

Work is in need of being done in the medical field enhancing care for elderly and terminally ill patients, to ease the emotional pain of those suffering and enhancing the last memory’s we have with our loved ones. Once this transformation occurs, family member may not just remember the last days of ones life, and how they do not look nor act like themselves, but instead resemble comatose shells of their former self. Instead these last few days could be remembered as a time spent enjoying and remembering the life of those family members close to passing.

The post death product is certainly crucial aspect of the memorial process; while I have no prime solution, designers should take the work of Ludgren and Levitt as a jumping point in the hopeful expansion of the human memorial. I long for the day when families who have lost ones close to them, through natural and unnatural causes are able to memorialize in a honest and positive way; not becoming overcome with the despair, which is so often afflicted upon the present survivors.

Through design I believe we can improve this brutal transition into death. I hope one day, through design or some other means, a child can listen to taps being played with the intermittent sound of gunfire, and think of the great life of their uncle. They can be reminded of the great stories they heard, the joy he brought and the incredible strength he brought to their family. Through design he can be remembered as the man he was, and not the pain his passing caused.