8" x 10" hand pulled lino print on cream or kraft brown archival paper

unlimited run

Our coastal communities have powerful teachings about honoring grief when our loved ones pass. Since moving home, I have always felt so proud of how our community comes together in the days after experiencing loss. Family will sit together all day receiving visitors and women take turns showing up with home cooked meals to serve homes with standing room only. Day after day, stories and acknowledgements are shared with waves of tears and laughter. Yet even with all this immense effort and collective sharing of the burden, it often feels like we are still only scratching the surface of the grief held back.

We are now learning how unprocessed grief inflicts lasting trauma in our bodies, families and communities. Grief is not just about losing loved ones, grief can come from lost relationships, friendships, culture, estranged family, changes in physical ability and the state of our earth. Transitions, heartache, disillusionment, and fear need a healthy outlet. I have witnessed so many loved ones in my communities struggle with chronic health problems, substance abuse, and workaholism in an effort to move quickly through loss to meet the pressure to be “productive.”

"Cryer" honours the sacred role of those of us brave enough to release the burden passed down so that the next generation walks a little lighter. She is flanked by maidenhair ferns, the ones seen happily bobbing next to our west coast waterfalls.