Making Art for the Living and the Dead
A series of free workshops and discussions at Comfort Station in Chicago, IL September 2024
When artists make work about death, we are affirming our relationships to the living world. Doing this well requires that we ask questions, seek connection, and invite collaboration – with the living and the dead, with the past and the future, with the human and non-human. These three stand-alone workshops will look at many different ways artists engage with death, mortality, and grief. Artists will find new ways to work with these topics in their own personal studio practice, and do so with the utmost respect and care for themselves, their subjects, and their audience. You need not be an artist to join us! We will read and discuss short pieces of writing, look at artworks, and experiment with creative writing as critical tools for the visual artist.
Workshop #1: Burial Art and the Affirmation of Life
September 16, 6pm - 9pm
Readings:
Teju Cole, “My Grandmother’s Shroud”
Dagmawi Woubshet, Introduction to The Calendar of Loss: Race, Sexuality, and Mourning in the Early Era of AIDS, “Looking for the Dead: Disprized Mourners and the Work of Compounding Loss.”
Elias Canetti, selections from Crowds and Power
Workshop #2: To Whom This May Concern
September 22, 6pm - 9pm
Readings:
Felix Gonzales Torres interview with Tim Rollins 1993, on “Portrait of Ross”
John Berger, “Fayoum Portraits” (Portraits, pages 7 - 11)