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The Grief Gallery

GRIEF AND LOSS EXPLORED THROUGH ART AND DESIGN

CURATOR, CHARLENE LAM

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EXHIBITION

The Grief Gallery at Lisbon’s Biggest Hospital

The Grief Gallery’s first exhibition in Portugal was at Lisbon’s biggest hospital ULS Santa Maria. I’m so touched by the warm reception, the enthusiastic engagement by hospital workers and visitors, and the hard work of the palliative care team, the communications team and everyone who made it happen. Presented in partnership with the amazing palliative care team for World Palliative Care Day in October 2024, with contributions from departments across the hospital, it was such an innovative way for the hospital to spotlight the importance of palliative care and to make space for grief.

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A Special Venue

The venue for this installation of The Grief Gallery: The foyer of the staff entrance of the Hospital Santa Maria in Lisbon, the biggest public hospital in Portugal.

When I proposed this project with the hospital’s palliative care team, at the invitation of nurse Ana Luisa, I floated an idea: What if instead of typical gallery display cases, we could use vintage medical cabinets? It was just an idea … and then from around the hospital, they sourced not one, not two, but five metal and glass cabinets! (And when we needed even more display space, they found a sixth. Nurses get things DONE.)

Precious Stories

Medical workers and visitors were invited to be both audience and co-creators, with encouragement to bring in meaningful objects to add to the exhibition.

Nurses and doctors remembered family members. Social workers honored clients. A surgeon remembered a very special little girl. Even a patient contributed items.

Some items were introduced into the glass cabinets. Others were photographed to be shared via a rotating image display.

Young Asian woman pictured with the 1964 World's Fair Unisphere in Queens, NY

Nurse with souvenir from Viana do Castelo

Nurse sharing custom bookplate designed for her mother-in-law

Contributed by a nurse honoring her father

Young Asian woman in dress standing next to Buick car 1960s

With sports paddle that belonged to her son

A doctor contributed a book made by a very special girl, a patient who died just that morning

Curator Charlene Lam with The Grief Gallery installation

So Many Meaningful Objects Shared

In memory of a father and a patient that became a friend

Charge nurse with house designed by her father, built after his death

In memory of a brother, an athelete and Olympian

Thank you to all who made this powerful exhibition and experience possible, from the palliative care team to hospital administration to the communications team to the artists (we had musicians and an author presenting as well)! So much love to all the individual doctors, nurses, students and patients who engaged with this special space for acknowledging and honoring our grief.

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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Part of the Reimagine End of Life Event Calendar

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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