Grief is something I have been familiar with since I was 12 and my Dad died, and other loved ones followed. Navigating death is never easy but growing up, it was made so much more difficult by the fact that many people, even the adults around me, did not know how to talk about it and treated it as a taboo subject once their social responsibility of giving condolences was met. People say they are there for you but then once you start talking, they become scared and divert the conversation.
I think this is largely because this is something that is not represented, even though it is a completely universal experience that humans have experienced since the beginning of our time. With this project, I wanted to visualize this grieving process right after my Grandpa died in November, 2021. When it feels like you are in a time purgatory in which nothing else matters besides being with the others who have felt your loss and memorializing the lost one as best as possible. When reality becomes blurred. For this reason, I have shot this in strictly horizontal 16x9 movie format with a cinematic lens and in black and white. This is my perspective of my loss but I hope that through revealing my own emotions during this time, others can recognize and better understand people’s experience with loss around them or their own experience as grieving is a continuous and honestly, never ending process.
See more of the this artist's work: natashafenga.com
