From Memories to Memorial: Healing Grief through Moving Image Creation

Mourning is a period of our life that affects us deeply, and could be very traumatic in some cases. Art has been and still is a great way to express non-verbally our deeper feelings, finding meaning to our condition and in the case of mourning, our loss. Photography and Moving images are both medium that have a strong connection with death by embalming time, they can also be used as tools to ease the pain during mourning, and to move forward in our life. This study summarizes first some basic psychology concepts about bereavement and art therapy before focusing on the use of moving images as a healing tool for grief. This study compared the creation of moving images as a tool for healing grief both in art therapy and as a creative process by practitioners who experienced grief. The last part is a case study based on the author’s own experience with dealing with grief through the making of an animation in memory of his lost partner. Through the case study, the author explores the process of making the animation and its positive effect on his grief.