CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS OF AMBIGUOUS LOSS

For Ambiguous Loss Awareness Day 2024, we gave five people an opportunity to showcase their artwork expressing ambiguous loss and grief. We asked: What does ambiguous loss mean to you? How does it look? What does it feel like? How does your grief translate creatively?
 
We want to highlight how creating art can be a therapeutic process of expressing emotions, and also be uplifting and supportive to mental health. If you are curious about using art to express your own loss and grief, check out our page with some tips.

​Below are the chosen artworks from our Creative Expressions of Ambiguous Loss project. Click on the images to view the full-sized pieces.
Veils of Logic by Kristi Kuder
Wire, wire mesh, knitting needles, chairs, box

"This installation includes seven suspended wire mesh veils burned with illogical equations depicting the effort to find logic in an illogical situation. On one chair is a piece titled, “As I Sit I Knit”, which expresses my endeavour to find answers and is an unfinished piece of work. It reaches toward another chair in an effort to swaddle and make a connection to another. This installation rose out of my grief over the development of my son's mental illness."
The Space Between by Chloe Swinton
Photography

"Taken on Winterton beach in Norfolk, I use black and white photography to portray ambiguous loss in its many forms, and I feel this photo really captures that. The moody sky and looming clouds represent the heaviness of grief. The sea creates a liminal space on the shore - the wet reflective spot, the space between the tides, the uncertainty. The footsteps on the sand, reminding us that nothing is permanent. Despite the many storms, the waves can be calm too. The silhouetted figure in contemplation, gazing across the vast ocean, the wonder, the despair, the being in limbo, standing on the edge. Hoping for the clouds to part, for some relief and light amongst the enduring darkness. Ambiguous loss is many shades of grey, and unknown like the distant horizon."
Song for the Little One by Niki Flow
Song lyrics

​"Since I joined the Ambiguous Loss group, I learned that there are all kinds of ambiguous losses. I first heard the term "ambiguous loss" from a psychology mag, along with something called "prolonged grief disorder." I was trying to understand why my son's disappearance was still as shattering years later as it was the day it happened. One thing I didn't have was a community of people who understood. I have that now, and it really helps. But when I saw this competition, I realized I had other ambiguous losses in my life like, probably, everyone else. One thing I haven't fully come to terms with is the loss of my childhood. I'm a child sexual abuse survivor. So I decided to enter "Song for the Little One." I wrote this song when I was in a domestic violence shelter in 1997, but I was too shy to perform it then. My friends asked me to perform it in 2013 at a get-together. After I did, they made me promise to record it. I've come a long way in the past ten years. I make room for this little one now and listen when she speaks. I've begun to forgive myself."
Sunset by Rachel Wood
​Oil paints

"Painting nature is my comfort at any time - but certainly in times of loss - be that a relationship, pet, job, or just the ending of a special time spent with close friends, the ending of summer, anything that signifies a leaving behind and moving forward. Nature, and all it’s elements are a constant in what can be turbulent times and it’s so grounding to stand in the elements and paint the beauty of it. It’s got me through some very tough times." 
​Pinecones of Estrangement by Anonymous
Sand, pinecones

"In this piece I used four pinecones to make sense of the estrangement around me. The distance between, the positioning and direction are all poignant. The grief is different for each one depending on the degree and depth of relationship, physical distance and length of time estranged. The sand offers a container which is unstable and ever changing, with some hope for the future." 

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." ~ Thomas Merton