Grief is the natural response to a loss. Whether it is a loss of a loved one, job, community, or friendship, grief is emotional suffering. There are 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
- Denial: When loss occurs, the first stage is denial. It is a struggle to come to terms with losing something or someone important to us.
- Anger: Struggling to adjust, anger allows us to release our emotion. We feel frustrated that we had to experience such a loss and see it as unfair.
- Bargaining: As our anger vanishes, we feel helpless and desperate. Believing there must be a way to prevent or bring back a loss, we try to bargain with the universe.
- Depression: Realizing that no amount of bargaining can return what has been lost, all we feel is the weight of our sadness. We are faced with reality and tend to isolate ourselves with our grief.
- Acceptance: Acceptance does not mean the process of grieving is over, rather we are able to accept the loss we have experienced. We have accepted reality and are beginning to adjust.
Our project highlights the stages of grief through paintings and photographs. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the whole world to experience the grief of various forms of loss. Since there is nothing more human than experiencing grief, we chose to capture the art inspired by it. Many artists turn to their work to express these emotions. Art became a form of therapy of a place to escape their emotional turbulence. We hope that our project brings comfort to those experiencing grief and allows them to see that they are not alone in their struggle.
“But what is grief if not love persevering?” -Vision, WandaVision
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