Art transforming the culture of living and dying

The staff of Rosetta Requiem are in the midst of a cultural revolution. Not only are they in the vanguard of working with people suffering a life-threatening illness, but they are also carving out time and space for these individuals to attend to their lives and to their deaths. This is an extraordinary undertaking and a unique approach to the question of: What matters most now, if this is the e
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The staff of Rosetta Requiem are in the midst of a cultural revolution. Not only are they in the vanguard of working with people suffering a life-threatening illness, but they are also carving out time and space for these individuals to attend to their lives and to their deaths. This is an extraordinary undertaking and a unique approach to the question of: What matters most now, if this is the end? Rosetta Requiem brings art and the individual together to grapple with this question.

Death and suffering are not sexy. Nor are they marketable. Over the last century people living in the developed world have become pathologically afraid of death. We live in a culture that has replaced spirituality with science and rabid materialism. Death is not a suitable subject for discussion. Beauty, youth, sex, fashion, money, objects and the promises of botox, all are. So how do we make space to ponder the mysterious event of death? Most of us prefer to put off these uncomfortable thoughts until death has arrived on our doorstep. At that point there is often a profound sense of ill-preparedness and quite often, no escape.

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Katerina Kokkinos-Kennedy
About the Author
Katerina Kokkinos-Kennedy is a theatre director, actor trainer, dramaturg and writer.