Grief is a feeling everyone encounters but how it is shared, acknowledged, or even suppressed is as individual as a snowflake. This installation brings together the voices of many people, each of whom has lost one or more family members, from grandparents to children. By placing the voices together on separate monitors running continuously and simultaneously, a chorus is created and out of that a community of commonality. Ironically the cries of sadness, vulnerability and pain open a view to the profound and abiding capacity of people to love deeply. Commissioned by Brolley Arts, an arts organization in Salt Lake City, Utah, SHROUD was first presented as part of a group show at Westminster College, Salt Lake City. It later was expanded and traveled to the Central Utah Art Center in Ephraim, Utah. The installation was created to responds to the community where it is exhibited by incorporating interviews with people from that community. This enables the piece to represent the local religious and cultural beliefs about dying and grieving.
