This workshop is about composing your final letter—a speech to loved ones, a documentation of one’s life, probably the last words you leave to the world. While not everyone has the chance or feels the need to leave a final letter, this workshop probes into the matter of use(fu)less by using a seemingly useless letter as a guide to thoughts of life and death.
The workshop begins with a discussion of various books and passages about death. Following this, participants will be guided to formulate their letters’ contents, including matters such as funeral expectations, personal wishes, etc. Through their own writing, participants will contemplate the finality of the death and understand their feelings toward it. Final drafts of the farewell letters will be shared with the class.
About Leaving aims to help people prepare objects in advance of their own deaths, including final letters, urns and funeral music—things that are only useful after death. We hope to probe into the topic of death during the course of three workshops, encouraging participants to contemplate death in a welcoming and liberal setting, and start preparing for finality in ways that suit them best.