Good Grief: Collections, Classification & Curation. Ars Moriendi: The Art of Dying (well)& Magical Thinking.

MOTH is a research project, which investigates the skills and contributions, which communication designers can make to death studies and end of life experiences. In our most recent project Good Grief we investigated the aesthetics of mortality through the conventions of Still life and Mourning. Part 1. A Still Life in 100 objects. In collaboration with Michael Petry, artist, curator MOCA & Death & Culture II Conference, 6 & 7 September 2018 58 author: Nature Morte, Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still-Life Tradition. Thames & Hudson, 2016. We examined the aesthetics of the Still life tradition and explored identity and legacy through collections, classification & curatorship of objects. How objects have history, which shape us in particular ways and how during stages of our lives we continue to search for objects that we can experience as both within and outside the self. Part 2. Ars Moriendi: The Art of Dying. Working with Charlotte Heal (editorial, packaging, brand identity designer), we examined the potential benefits of Mourning, externalizing grief to aid transition through the bereavement process. How design can create opportunities: services, products, platforms to re-consider conventions in future-thinking how mourning in (a largely secular) contemporary society can be made visual and have meaningful impact. Ashley Rudolph and Nikki Salkeld are Senior Lecturers in Graphic Design at Falmouth University. Over the last five years they have established MOTH which seeks to unhide death. Collaborative practice is central to all of their activities, working with designers, artists, writers, philosophers, sociologists, medics and students as equal partners in discovery and communication. They see themselves as emerging researchers in this field with an expertise in graphic design and an interest in graphic anthropology: how design shapes, and is shaped by cultural values and social practices with particular relevance to our relationship with death. http://moth.falmouth.ac.uk/ Instagram: moth_design_deat