Since 1969 when Elisabeth Kübler-Ross articulated what was originally five, but was eventually expanded to seven stages of grief, western society has embraced the idea that a bereaved person should move through a defined process with a defined endpoint. Any lingering manifestations are considered a demonstration of some type of deficit, or at least poor coping skills.
In my experience grief takes innumerable forms and is not something that is "got over", "worked through" or necessarily ever resolved.
I am applying for a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts, to explore, over the course of a year, how my daily artmaking practice has been and continues to be impacted by grief and loss.
The application has just gone in and I've found a typo on the last page. Of course. Anyway, it's all out of my hands now, and fingers are firmly crossed.
I think I'm going to go ahead with the project in some sort of truncated form if I don't get funding. It involves continuing my artmaking practice, interviewing some truly esteemed artists for their thoughts and observations, putting together an online resource/community hub, publishing a book of artwork and holding a gallery show... Surely all that's do-able.
(Eek!)
Anyway, I just wanted to say that's what's happening.