The Grief Gallery in Los Angeles: PAUSE and Reparations Club

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EXHIBITION

The Grief Gallery in Los Angeles: PAUSE & Reparations Club

The Grief Gallery presented a series of installations in Los Angeles in November 2023, in partnership with PAUSE, a nonprofit serving communities of color through grief and end of life. From a private industry brunch to a public event at Black-owned bookstore Reparations Club, individuals were invited to bring meaningful objects associated with grief and memory to share and be photographed, contributing to a collective witnessing of grief and loss.

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Julie with stethoscope and framed photos in memory of her sister Jennifer.

Remembering Through Objects

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Pop-up installation by The Grief Gallery and Marigolde at bookstore Reparations Club in Los Angeles. Colorful display of books in the background. Display of items including a soy sauce bottle and fruit on a table in the foreground.

Erica with football pennant and Yahtzee from her grandparents.

Meredith with her friend’s tuning fork.

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Laura with her mother’s jewelry.

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If you were to curate … Participants were also invited to share their memories, stories and objects by writing on postcards with a prompt.

Sisters remembering with bracelets.

Pop-up installation by The Grief Gallery and Marigolde at bookstore Reparations Club in Los Angeles.

Beautiful Sharing

Kelli with glasses from her mother Walterine.

Tanner with surfing sculpture from his father.

Thank you to PAUSE, Reparations Club, Marigolde, and everyone who made this special event happen.

Questions? Interested in commissioning The Grief Gallery to present an exhibition at your event or in memory of your person? Contact curator Charlene Lam at Hello@CharleneLam.com

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PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS

The Grief Gallery in Toronto

Part of the DesignTO Festival in Toronto, Canada, January 2022

During Toronto’s annual design festival, The Grief Gallery welcomed visitors to acknowledge personal and collective losses through the contemplation and celebration of objects: the belongings of loved ones lost.

See Exhibition

WHAT THE CAMERA CAPTURES

Part of NYCxDESIGN, November 2021

An online exhibition exploring the role of the camera in processing grief and loss during New York City’s annual design festival. Three New York creatives who have lost loved ones share their photography-based projects.

See Exhibition

The Grief Gallery: Commissions

Part of the London Design Festival and Shoreditch Design Triangle, September 2021

Visitors are invited to explore these universal themes through creative work commissioned in memory of loved ones.

See Exhibition

CURATOR’S NOTE

Why a Grief Gallery?

When my mom died in 2013, I was working as an independent curator in London. My pop-up exhibitions showcased the work of designers, makers and artists, under the names Creative Clerkenwell and The Creative Edit.

When it came time to pick out an urn for my mom’s ashes, I commissioned a custom porcelain urn from an East London ceramicist whose work I loved. In 2015 I presented my first exhibition featuring my mother’s belongings.

That was the start of The Grief Gallery. Over the years, I’ve commissioned illustrations, paper art and photoshoots in memory of my mom and others’ loved ones. I’ve presented exhibitions in London and Brooklyn about grief and loss.

Channeling my grief into creating and commissioning work from designers and makers has been an incredibly rewarding and healing experience.

After an extended period of grief and loss on many levels, I invite visitors to explore the universal themes of grief and loss through this creative lens. Out of darkness and pain, we can craft beauty and create meaning.

– Charlene Lam, Curator and Founder, The Grief Gallery
hello@charlenelam.com