Death and design: the creative projects confronting society’s ultimate taboo

In response, Nikki and Ashley put on a workshop with their students to find out if there was such a thing as a singular, universal symbol of grief. “We were exploring whether you could come up with a symbol of death that could describe that level of empathy and which the other symbols, like skull and crossbones, just didn’t,” says Ashley. “In the workshop, we discovered that, no, it’s not really possible to come up with a single symbol of death, because there’s so many individual interpretations.” Struck by this, Nikki and Ashley realised just how much work there was to be done in exploring the visual symbolism of death, fueling their desire to make Moth into something much bigger, and much broader.

In its 13 years, Moth’s projects have ranged greatly. For example, Goodbye Mr Jim, Ashley explains, tackles a tricky topic – the death of a family pet. “How can we equip parents to be able to talk about the loss of a child’s pet, as it’s often the first time they’ve confronted death?” explains Ashley. So often you hear instances of parents avoiding the topic entirely (eg. “they’ve gone to live on a farm”). Moth created a downloadable pamphlet that guides parents on how they can help their child’s understanding, as well as an A4 print-out (which can be personalised and stuck on a shoebox containing the animal) creating a sense of ceremony and celebration. Another project, Another Seat at the Table, is a designed dining experience complete with a curated menu and set of prompts that pushes people to plan for what might happen in the instance of their death. “We plan for all big events in our life – like a wedding and our 21st birthday – but actually, we don’t do that planning for the end of life.” says Ashley. “Design can shift that narrative and shift that status quo.”

Recently, Moth staged a conference: Death Design and Culture: Radical Reimaginings for the End of Life, at Falmouth’s campus. The event, brought together individuals specialising in death across various disciplines, from designers to academics, researchers and policy-makers, to discuss the most complex issues and debates surrounding the passing of life, from funeral practices, assisted dying, ecological collapse and death in a digital world.

The opening keynote was from Laura Cramwinckel, the head of programme and research at Museum Tot Zover (Museum So Long) in Amsterdam, a space dedicated to exploring funeral practices and the culture surrounding them. It’s held exhibitions on everything from the design of herses, to different cultural approaches to death, as well hosting some striking permanent features, like a series of commemorative post-mortem portraits, and one particularly clever student project submitted to the museum – a plywood coffin paired with a pamphlet designed to look like an IKEA manual, that museum-goers can enter, thus (quite literally) confronting death head on.

Laura explored how the museum has gone about branding itself asking: how do you signal that everything inside these doors deals with death, while still making people want to visit? Tot Zover’s answer was to get the “trendiest” design agency in the Netherlands, KesselsKramer, to redesign its logo and create an ad campaign. The studio turned the two T’s in its name into two crosses – a symbol Laura argued has become detached from Christianity, and is now a widely perceived symbol of death (at least in Europe) – and placed a headstone outside the Rijksmuseum inscribed with the question: ‘Who’s still afraid of death?’. It was provocative, considering that (according to Laura) one in three Dutch people attest to experiencing death anxiety, but brought a new tone of voice to the subject matter.

When the museum decided it needed a mascot to make the space more palatable to children, it opted for quite a cutesy grim reaper figure, called Klein Hein – another universal symbol, or so they thought. When trialled with children, many had no clue what a grim reaper was, let alone why he was holding a big knife, which for them denoted violence. So, in 2018, the museum remedied this by replacing its scythe with a flower, and giving Klein Hein a smile – which proved a success. Laura learnt that symbols of death are always changing – one generation’s cheeky grim reaper is altogether more macabre in today’s context.

Arguably one of the most complicated subjects is that of assisted suicide. For decades the debate has been a fierce one, with activists and charities – like Dignity in Dying – fighting to give people the right to decide when their life ends. In Canada, Switzerland, Belgium and some states in the US, voluntary suicide is already legal, with the UK’s new Labour government looking set to follow suit. However, this stance has been met with equally vehement opposition from many parties, including religious figures and disabled activists who believe such a bill will pressure already vulnerable disabled people to opt for ending their life. The actor and activist Liz Carr’s documentary on BBC iPlayer, Better off Dead?, is a thought-provoking examination of this side of the debate.

Mortem Stores is an installation by the designer Ian Walden that explores the assisted suicide debate, and saw its debut at the conference. Using discursive design theories, provocation and (very) dark humour as a guide, the installation is a fictional shop where people can buy products to help them take their own life. It includes over 100 unique artefacts all of which have been designed and copywritten by Ian, with a tongue-in-cheek tone and retro-futurist finish.

There’s a few important things to note before going any further. Firstly, Ian is well aware of the sensitivity of the issue, and the possibly controversy of exploring it through provocation and humour. Before setting foot in the installation, each person is given a breakdown of what it deals with, as well as a list of lengthy support information to access if needed. Secondly, Ian is coming at this from a death-positive and pro-assisted suicide perspective, but, importantly, for Old Age Rational Suicide (OARS) – those who are 65 and over, and feel ready to die. This stance developed after a very personal experience – the death of Ian’s mother, who experienced a slow and “distressing” death after having a debilitating stroke in 2009.

Meanwhile, Xin Pang’s talk explored the visual language of grief in Japanese pop culture. Xin’s thesis suggests that in a rapidly globalising world, young people in Japan are experiencing higher levels of anxiety, causing them to ‘grieve’ the loss of their childhoods. This has resulted in fashion trends like ‘Gothic Lolita’ – a pastiche of Victorian children’s dress, characterised by dark colours and ruffles with cutesy and emo twists, as well as the rise of terms like Menhera (a slang term that references a person with mental health issues), and the popularity of artists like Avogado, an illustrator blending anime characters and scenes with dark depictions of murder, self harm and gore.

Raquel and Xin argued that even if the mainstream visual representations of death have stagnated, young people have found ways to depict it from their own unique viewpoint – with technology lending a helping hand. Other projects of note in this space include Donate Yourself by Dr Stacey Pistsillides’ and design collective Body>Data>Space, an augmented reality experience presenting stories and perspectives on what it means to donate organs; and the NHS and Snapchat’s collaborative filter that helped users to scan their bodies and find out more about their organs, raising awareness of the importance of donation.