“Grief at the Table” Introducing a zine supporting People of Color through holiday grief
This series of art, short story, poems, and prose invites you to process your grief through whatever medium feels right at this particularly challenging time of year. As one contributor Charlene Lam said, the purpose of this diverse offering is “witnessing and acknowledging the beauty and the ugly. The bittersweet. Inviting people to witness it with me, and to help them to expand their capacity to hold and experience the whole spectrum of emotions.”
With that, you’re invited in. Into a circle of people who “get it." Into pages that hopefully help you feel less isolated in this time. Into a new way of being that lets you rest your shoulders or breathe deep sighs of relief or scream out all of the things no one’s ever let you scream before.
The zine will be sold on multiple platforms. Feel free to contact any of the contributors for purchase and any other inquires. For more general information please email griefatthetable@gmail.com
This zine was made possible by the Starlight Business Development Residency Program, PAUSE, and most importantly the 7 contributors who have organized and crafted this very special zine.
Watch the replay of the zine launch, “Grief at the table”- an event introducing the contributors and their work.
Briana Simmons
Briana Simmons (she/her) is a full-spectrum life and death facilitator caring for folks giving life and those facing death. She is the Founder and Creative Director of Unearthing Tradition, which exists to create unapologetic healing spaces for Black folks to exhale, especially in the midst of sacred transitions. She believes in what possibilities holistic wellness offers us to reimagine transitions at the beginning and end of life, as well as, the lives we get to live in between.
contact hello@unearthingtradition.com to purchase
Charlene Lam
Charlene Lam is a certified grief coach, speaker and
curator of The Grief Gallery. After her mother died suddenly in 2013, Charlene leaned into her creativity and curatorial instincts to guide herself through grief. Since then, she’s presented multiple international exhibitions featuring the belongings of loved ones lost. Charlene believes we are ALL curators after a loved one dies, and developed her Curating Grief coaching framework to help people process grief in a creative, accessible way. Originally from NYC, she's currently based in Lisbon, Portugal.
Contact hello@charlenelam.com to purchase
Chloe Cole-Wilson
Chloe Cole (They/She) has been engaged in social work and trauma-informed care for foster care youth, people of color and LGBTQ communities for over 9 years. Allowing the community to create spaces that are safe to process and digest intense topics such as death and dying, racism in America, mental health, and the obstacles LGBTQ plus folks continue to face here in America. Chloe continues their work as a DEI consultant, theatrical teaching artist, political healer, and substance use disorder counselor in Pennsylvania.
Contact chloecolewilson@gmail.com to learn more
Marielle Cusion
Marielle is a death doula and end-of-life planner serving the Filipino-American community. She cares about guiding people through end-of-life planning and exploration, and sharing openly about death and grief.
Follow her on Instagram @thedeathengineer
Mangda Sengvanhpheng
Mangda Sengvanhpheng is an artist, grief and death guide, and the founder of BACII - a digital space that focuses on loss and grief while providing services and offerings that renew our engagement to life. Her life and death work is guided by her Laotian last name, which means “the light of the full moon.” Mangda’s work has been featured in Vogue, NY Mag’s Curbed, Brydie, Chacruna Institute and more.
Link to purchase the zine: https://bacii.co/shop/p/grief-at-the-table
Patricia Montoya
Patty Montoya is an Energy Healer, Anticipatory Grief Coach, Death Doula, and so much more! She is the founder of Titipoza, a space created to help people process their grief and their trauma and ultimately grow from their experiences. Titipoza was created after experiencing the loss of several of her loved ones. Patty provides the services she did not have while anticipating the loss of her loved ones.
Link to purchase the zine: Shop — Titipoza Energy Healer and Psychic Medium
Tida Beattie
Tida is a Thai-American end-of-life doula and peer grief support facilitator. Tida co-founded MESO which provides culturally informed resources and support for immigrant families in the US addressing care, death, loss and grief.
contact info@mesocommunity.com to purchase.
Roshni K
Roshni Kavate is an Artist, Grief Coach and Educator. Roshni Kavate is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Marigolde, a platform for grief rooted in radical empathy, and connection. She believes grief is a portal to wholeness. Through rituals and storytelling, we can reconnect to our origins and be our wild selves. She sees the path to being whole as a radical art and political practice. The question that guides her is What is our grief craving? and how can we nourish and feed it?
Link to purchase the zine: www.wearemarigolde.com
Learn more about the inaugural PAUSE Business Development Residency cohort here.
Artwork by Roshni Kavate