Start Again the Lament by Taryn Simon
I recently found out Taryn Simon has a sound installation titled Start Again the Lament at Cisternerne, Frederiksberg Museums. It opened in March and on until November 30, 2024.
The installation “explores how we mourn individually and collectively, considering the anatomy of grief and who we choose to guide us through it. In the act of lament, discontent is publicly performed. Professional mourners are granted the authority and solicited by the bereaved to occupy, negotiate, and shape their loss.”
In the video below, Taryn Simon talks about the work in more details. This quote stood out for me.
“If you look at the history of professional mourning, it's often been marginalized by different governments and systems because it's a threat to a certain order. The ways in which people and communities respond to loss are extremely important because everything can change in that moment, and it's a threatening space when there's that level of discontent and chaos.” —Taryn Simon