Art born from grief

“Sometimes I felt the grief would drown me,” Lorraine Roberts reflected on the death of her three-day old daughter Thandiwe in May this year, “but I was surprised that alongside that feeling, there was light. People really surrounded us—church, community, friends, family, workplaces—it made it a little more bearable. It helped us take the next step.”

In the darkness of this loss and the beginning of a period of maternity leave that had become a season of grief, Mrs Roberts—a project manager, by profession, and member of the Melbourne City Adventist Church (MCAC)—grew the idea for an art exhibition that would explore how other people live through grief.

“I want people to know that there is not only darkness, light also pursues us,” she said, sitting in the gallery space of Creative Asia Arts Centre in inner-city Melbourne, surrounded by the works of 18 artists who joined Mrs Roberts on this journey. The Piercing Darkness exhibition opened with a crowd of 150 people on November 30 and was displayed through to December 6.

“The contributing artists were a mix of friends who do art and then, as the project developed, other artists were recommended to us—and not a single person said no,” she explained. “Some I only met when they came to drop off their artwork as we set up the exhibition, but there was a spirit of generosity, community and kindness.

“Some artists have faith, some no faith, some are after faith, some of different faiths. But we are all human.”

The exhibition was led by an organising group that included Mrs Roberts, Celia Kemp, Gracie Jackson and Melbourne City Adventist Church pastor Jinha Kim. “It was a privilege to have supported this exhibition and to have offered a safe space for people to reflect on their own experiences of pain and loss,” said Pastor Kim. “The exhibition created a rare opportunity for honest conversations about grief.”

Visitors to the exhibition were invited to pin reflections on an interactive art wall or to write in a response book. But Mrs Roberts also reflected on how this exhibition has been part of her own journey of grief. “The darkness has pierced me, but also helped me to remember that there is still purpose to my time here,” she said. “After Thandiwe died, I felt like I had nothing else to give. Now—because of the hope that I have—I recognise that we are all going to suffer, but may my suffering be purposeful. If I’m going to suffer anyway—I can’t opt out—may my suffering bring fruit.

“My hope has been to talk with everyone who walks in and to hear their story, not to fix them, but to share their humanity.”—Nathan Brown