The highly successful Art of Grieving Exhibition at St Albans Museum + Gallery has drawn to a close with a visit by Daisy Cooper MP for St Albans.
The free exhibition explored how art can encourage conversations about loss and included interactive events such as Death Cafés to open-up the taboo subject of bereavement, loss and grief.
Art in all mediums was shown by over 50 artists with each piece inspired by the artists’ experience of loss or bereavement. The response to the exhibition exceeded all expectations with 19,753 people visiting over the period.
Daisy Cooper MP visited on the last day of the exhibition which has been running all summer.
She said: “Grieving and bereavement are subjects that many people don’t feel they can talk about with others – so it was great to see St Albans Museum + Gallery bringing these matters out in the open and helping start conversations around life, loss and death.
“So many of the artworks were incredibly moving and poignant. Anyone who’s ever lost someone close to their heart will be able to relate to and find comfort in this exhibition. I know I did.”
Quotes from the Visitor Book included: “Such a beautiful exhibition. I lost my mother three weeks ago and the pain is raw. This exhibition has helped today with my grief.
“A moving and important exhibition, thought-provoking. I’m so glad I came.
“Grief can never be brief. It wears down like an old pair of good shoes. We cling to memories which are painful but recall joy and sometimes hope. But it is never brief.”
Kate Ray, founder of The Art of Grieving, who organised the exhibition, said:
“The response to the 2022 Art of Grieving exhibition surpasses all my hopes for its success! The amazingly powerful and unique work shared by the 50 artists; the brilliant gallery space and the thousands of visitors have all meant that this has been the biggest Art of Grieving exhibition so far.”
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