This Grief Thing
2018 - 2021
This Grief Thing is a project that encourages people to think, talk and learn about grief. It's for people who have experienced grief, and for people who haven’t.
At the heart of the project there’s a collection of clothing, accessories and cards, which are sold in temporary shops that we’re opening in different places. There are gatherings and conversations, which invite people to come together to talk about grief. And there’s a billboard campaign, that makes grief visible in public spaces.
We’re living at a time when many people find death and grief - our own grief or other people’s - almost impossible to talk about. We don’t know what to say, what to do, or how to act. So we stay silent, we pretend that grief doesn’t exist, or we hide it.
This Grief Thing London 2020 photo by Paul Akinrinlola
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
Why can’t we talk about grief?
This Grief Thing Trailer
This Grief Thing Shops
At the heart of This Grief Thing is a collection of clothing and accessories that bear words and phrases about grief, such as Grief Is Like The Weather or Grief = Love and Don’t Panic If I Cry. These words have been gathered from conversations we’ve had with hundreds of people since we started to talk about grief in 2016. So that these items go out into the world in a way that we hope is useful, we open temporary shops where people can come and browse the collection, chat with our artistic directors Sam Butler and David Harradine (who are there as shopkeepers) and purchase items on a pay what you want basis. Visitors to the shop can also speak with other ‘customers’ about grief, or take part in scheduled conversations called Grief Gatherings (more on those below).
Since 2018 we’ve opened shops in Preston (in partnership with Derelict and St George’s Shopping Centre); Middlesbrough (with Middlesbrough Town Council, Ageing Better and Captain Cook Shopping Centre); Manchester (with The Whitworth, Sick! festival and Manchester Royal Infirmary) and Nottingham (with Dance4). The This Grief Thing collection is also available in our online shop.
An unassuming shop in the city centre, inserting death and loss into the familiar landscape of the high street.
The Guardian
This Grief Thing
Online
In 2020 we moved the project online, and offered participants around the world a chance to come together to talk about grief through online Grief Gatherings. These were hosted by Sam and David and by a fantastic cohort of guest hosts: Rayvenn D’Clark, Dan de la Motte, Priya Jay, Deepa Shastri, and BrumYODO.
This Grief Thing
London
In 2021 we reimagined This Grief Thing for Covid times and for London. Alongside more online grief gatherings with previous guests hosts and new hosts Tian Glasgow, Tabby Lamb, and Lou Robbin, we commissioned artists Rayvenn D’Clark and Akshay Sharma to make new projects in response to the theme of grief.
We also hosted a series of online dialogues between a whole range of ‘grief experts’ including academics George Gumisiriza and Linda Machin, curator Amy de la Haye, death doula Amanda Blainey, photographer Simon Bray, artists Paula Varjack and Priya Jay and philosopher Will Daddario.
We reimagined our shop as a market stall, which appeared in Roman Road, Brick Lane and Bethnal Green Road street markets in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets. The stalls were hosted by our artistic directors David and Sam along with community engagement associate Nurjahan Julie Begum.
This Grief Thing London 2021 photo by Camilla Greenwell
This Grief Thing London 2021 photo by Method Films
This Grief Thing London 2021 photo by Method Films
This Grief Thing London 2021 photo by Method Films
Grief Gatherings
Grief Gatherings are small group conversations about grief hosted by David and Sam, and by guest hosts. Anyone can come along, whether or not they’ve experienced grief, and people who join a gathering can choose to talk or they can just listen. They’re a chance for people to come together to talk, learn and think about grief. When the project is happening in a shop, Grief Gatherings happen after hours, when the shop is closed. We’ve also offered them in partnership with many other organisations, including arts centres, galleries, the canteens of local authority offices, hospitals, care homes and whilst walking around in parks. Since 2020 we've also been doing them online.
‘What Is A Grief Gathering?’
Grief Gathering Host Training
We are now offering training workshops for organisations who would like to learn how to host a Grief Gathering.
Hosted by a Fevered Sleep Artistic Director or Associate Artist, this one day training session will help participants develop skills in creating a safe space, including what to do if someone needs further support during the session, facilitating a conversation, including incorporating prompts or materials, and opening and closing the session.
They will also gain practical experience of giving peer to peer reflection and support, and delivering a Grief Gathering, including incorporating live, in person practice with other members of the group.
If you are interested in holding a training session in your organisation or group, please contact Fevered Sleep at admin@feveredsleep.co.uk.
Previous Grief Gathering host training has been held at cultural organisations such as Delepré Abbey, Northampton and Culture Weston, Weston Super Mare. Participants have then gone on to host Grief Gatherings in their local communities to great success.
Training sessions are typically held over one day for no more than 10 participants and cost £750 + travel (and accommodation if applicable).
This Grief Thing billboards and posters
Everywhere we’ve ever opened a shop or ran the project, we’ve also taken over billboards and poster sites, to make grief visible in public spaces, so that people who would never visit a shop or take part in a grief gathering or attend a commissioned performance can still encounter the project and its themes, and still be invited to think, learn and talk about grief. In 2020, in partnership with The Good Grief Trust, we commissioned graphic designers Fraser Muggeridge Studio to create a set of large-format posters that appeared across London during National Grief Awareness Week.
This Grief Thing London 2021 photo by Method Films
This Grief Thing London 2020 photo by Fraser Muggeridge Studio
This Grief Thing London 2021 photo by Method Films
This Grief Thing Middlesbrough 2018 photo by Fevered Sleep
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
Meet the Team
Design & Shopkeepers: Sam Butler & David Harradine
Interior Design: Ali Beale
Graphic Design: Fraser Muggeridge Studio
Production Management: Sam Evans
Project Assistant: Emma Lewis-Jones
Research: Beth McEvoy
RESEARCH ADVISORS
Dr. Linda Machin
Professor Louise Crewe
Professor Amy de la Haye
Dr. John Troyer & Dr. Christine Valentine
ADDITIONAL THANKS TO
Alison Proctor
Brian Quirt & Jenna Rogers
East Street Arts
Ellie Harrison
Hannah Robertshaw, Yorkshire Dance
John Luther, South Street Arts
Stuart Allen & Ben Anderson, Dance4
Susanne Burns
A shop where people can come to talk, to browse or to simply be
The BIG ISSUE
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
This Grief Thing Preston 2018 photo by Garry Cook
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
This Grief Thing Manchester 2019 photo by Richard Tymon
Supported By
Arts Council England
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Wellcome
The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
We acknowledge the assistance of the 2018 Banff Playwrights Lab – a partnership between the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the Canada Council for the Arts - in the development of This Grief Thing.
This Grief Thing Preston 2018 photo by Garry Cook