Loss is a normal part of lived experience.

The Grammar of Grief Handbook is a living online resource for people seeking performance practices which can help them work through losses in their lives.

Memorials are typically thought of as stone structures rising above eye level in a public square. The Handbook reimagines bereavement through writing, audio, or physical movement that can be created at home and come out of the body’s unique relationship to grief.

Indira Allegra would like to acknowledge the contribution of Temple Contemporary at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University with participants from the Fabric Workshop Museum and engagements with the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University, and Oxbow School of Art and Artists Residency in 2020 and 2021.

The Grammar of Grief Series began as a commission from the San Francisco Chronicle and is generously hosted by Temple Contemporary at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Invaluable support for the online Handbook from the Minnesota Street Project Adjacent Virtual Residency in San Francisco, California.

Indira Allegra

Indira Allegra’s work re-imagines memorial as a genre vital for life for its ability to hold the tension which grief creates inside ourselves, within crafted objects, spaces and rituals. Allegra is deeply informed by Quiet, the inner life of people, places and things, and the ritual, relational and performative aspects of weaving.

They are a YBCA 100 Honoree, 2019/2020 Burke Prize Winner, Eureka Fellow, Lucas Artist Fellow and California Black Voices Grantee.

@indiraallegra
indiraallegra.com

Minnesota Street Project Adjacent

Adjacent is a space where art happens online. Collaborating with galleries, creators, and partners around the world, the site showcases virtual talks, live performances, and more.

Adjacent is a direct response to the 2020 pandemic, re-imagining and re-contextualizing the Arts in this new reality. The site is an extension of the Minnesota Street Project’s physical space in San Francisco — breaking boundaries, inspiring curiosity, and championing conversations about the Arts.

minnesotastreetprojectadjacent.com
@minnesotastreetproject

Design and development by @paperbeatsscissors
Handbook maintenance by Shanna Sordahl

Submit a Practice

Your loss is worthy of memorial. Your practice of memorial can be a resource for others experiencing the same kind of loss. Look to the website for inspiration, then create your own sound-based, movement or written practice or practice in your environment which comes out of your own experience of grief for others to try.

Submit your own practices and prompts anytime. The Grammar of Grief Handbook selects and publishes new submissions four times a year. Please note that the Grammar of Grief Handbook does not seek original poetry, song or movement about loss – but rather written, movement, sound based practices which have worked for you to process your loss, which people experiencing similar losses can try on their own. Submit here.

Back to Sound

Hold your breath once a day. For as long as you can. Feel your heart thundering. This too, is a memorial.

Image Descriptions: Plants with long fern-like leaves blow in the wind on a dark day. Out of focus in the background are a rolling hill and many green trees.

I was thinking about how breathlessness can come as a result of illness, state sanctioned violence or the shock of a broken heart. I was thinking about the ability to breathe as being synonymous with safety and social mobility.

@indiraallegra

Listen to the recording. Follow the prompts and make your own work in response. Notice how you feel. Submit a sound-based practice which comes out of your own experience of grieving loss that other people can try.