This artifact invites us to remember loved ones who have passed. From graveyards to temples, we use places to reflect on our memories of those we have known and loved. Places that are associated with time spent together, a shared event or a place of natural beauty. Many people choose to scatter the ashes of a loved one in a location with a personal meaning or a connection to the person who has died. This artefact invites us to remember those we have known and learn of others who were loved and remembered there.
From the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead where people converse with the past and the passed, to Mafia gangster gravestones, etched with imagery of the cars and phones they possessed in life, to post boxes for letters to dead relatives and holograms of passed loved ones at funerals, research is showing that we are reconnecting with those who have passed and who retain a strong presence in our lives. Historically, our need to celebrate life at death has waned as religious rituals decline in western culture. The challenge to find new rituals and develop a never ending dialogue with people we have known but are no longer with us, feels a powerful and positive force for love across generations and time.
As we experience relatives and friends passing, the way we retain their identity from memories of their lives and, with technology, potentially continue to engage and interact with their presence, is an opportunity to refresh our respect and love for those no longer with us. Memorials that survive and the sharing of their lives, values and persistent presence in the world is a real possibility for new rituals and love for all humanity.
Working with the National Trust and English Heritage, the post will be installed at locations of beauty and historical interest to invite people to remember their loved ones and times shared with them.
Work with dementia patients to retain memories points to how we might retain our experience and love for our relatives and friends who have passed from this world. Looking at a rich diversity of cultural tradition combined with new dimensions of technology from holograms to AI, will allow us to continue to experience and converse with those we have known. The traditional and technological are combining to open doors to design new rituals and interactions to retain in our current lives links to those who have passed.
Working with Endineering author Joe Macleod, we are exploring new rituals and interactions utilising AI, recording memories through photos, video, audio and written word to develop a continuing dialogue with those we have loved and who have passed.
We believe in making life-long love connections through great design.
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