Symbols of Death

[The Emotionalisation of Graphic Symbols]

We wish to express our delight and gratitude to all those who have contributed to this project and shared with us their thoughts, insights and symbols. We welcomed a diverse range of submissions which communicated both personal grief as well as collective solidarity and empathy in our social-cultural relationships.

Thank you.

Symbols of Death:
[The Emotionalisation of Graphic Symbols]


The Background to the project
Initiated after a conversation following the massacre at Utøya, MOTH reflected upon the lack of suitable visual symbols used to articulate universal sympathy in the context of death and bereavement. Most of the social media messages posted in response to the massacre used
the 🖤. This prompted inspiring questions about the lack of appropriate and meaningful visual signifiers of mortality and highlighted our inability to discuss the complexities of death as freely as we discuss love.

Following an initial Symbols of Death workshop at Falmouth we invited design colleagues alongside students to submit work for an exhibition to take place at the  DEATH x DESIGN x CULTURE: RADICAL RE-IMAGININGS FOR THE END OF LIFE, conference, 4-6 September 2024, at Falmouth University, UK.

The Brief To create a collective digital vocabulary of pictorial signs to articulate and communicate the nuances of death, dying and grief. Utilising the emotionalisation of graphic symbols to express our inner world of feelings to the outside world. To re-imagine how we talk about death, dying and grief in the digital realm.

Lexicons and systems of pictorial signs represent democratisation of knowledge through [cultural] participation. Overcoming linguistic barriers and reflecting divergent socio-cultural influences which are constantly being re-negotiated. Helping us to navigate space and each other. Functioning or engaging as universal forms of communication [rejecting or reinforcing stereotypes?]. Or as personal expressions and poetic forms of visual language.

Sander. G. (2014) Otto Neurath. Eine politische Biographie. Wien/Vienna: Zsolnay