Tomorrow LV is giving a talk called BE SCARED OR BE PREPARED, which poses 5 fears about death & what DEAD GOOD has learned about alleviating these.
A day of art workshops, traditional altars, live music, Mexican food, a daytime parade & a closing celebration to remember those we love.
Would you like to run your own GET MORTAL funeral wishes workshop (with you as the host) for your friends/family/colleagues/clients or even members of the public? I'll be hosting an online training event later this year to guide you through setting up & running your own funeral planning event.
>KV
Blimey, we're finalists for the 'Yearly Achievement Award' at the National Good Funeral Awards 2025.
All four finalists in this category are working innovatively & creatively to help people have the choice & support to do death differently.
>KV
We host 'get mortal' workshops to help you create & write down a set of imaginative funeral wishes.
How does it work?
You choose the venue and up to 10 people.
And we'll come over to run the workshop with all the resources & props.
Drop us a message on socials or email us at hello@deadgood.org
Children are dead good & we've worked with hundreds.
Death literacy is for all.
Kids can be straightforward about death when spaces are created where they can explore concepts, ask questions & share their experience.
Would you bring your children (or someone else's) to a DEAD GOOD activity?
>KV
Hahaha
Huge thanks to @truecrimeforumnewcastle for booking DEAD GOOD to run a 'get mortal' funeral planning workshop.
The lively session got the room unpicking funeral conventions before going wild with their imaginations.
Creating spaces for open conversation about death & grief is valuable.
>KV
Grief & clay are natural companions.
Clay is of the earth. Connected to soil. Connected to us.
I was born in The Potteries. Clay is under my nails & under my skin.
Working the clay channels your grief.
The clay seedball will return to the earth & new life will come.
No endings. Not really.
>KV
We're meeting our board of directors tomorrow to review the happenings in Year 2 of DEAD GOOD.
We're particularly pleased with our funding breakdown for Y2. It feels good to have increased our trading income in comparison to our public funding.
Onwards and onwards.
>KV
β I LIVE I DIE (a red and multicolour circular sticker with our Boney Mitchell skull in the middle)
β LITTLE ROTTER (our iconic eco skull illustration with flowers and toadstools growing from within)
β WORMY (an illustrated decomposer sticker in the shape of a Staffordshire Knot)
β YOUR GHOST (a colourful die-cut sticker featuring an illustrated happy human figure leading a transparent person by the hand)
Our new mortality stickers have hit the webshop!
Big limited edition eco stickers, plastic-free, no nasties. Designed by LV. Buying a pack is a great way to support our DEAD GOOD work.
β°οΈ Slap them on your laptop (or cardboard coffin)
π« Buy them for your deathy friends
www.deadgood.org/shop
>KV
YEAR TWO COMPLETED.
We've spent most of it asking questions & listening hard to your responses & ideas.
We've learned a lot from these community conversations, which will, in turn, fuel the work we do in Y3.
Thank you for continuing to support the work we do.
THANK YOU FOR BEING DEAD GOOD
>KV
The new sticker collection is here!
Look at LV's excellent original artwork.
They've arrived just in the nick of time.
And they're big bold guys.
1. LITTLE ROTTER
2. GRAVE WORM
3. YOU'RE WITH ME
4. MODERN MEMENTO MORI
We're bringing them to the @naturalendings conference this weekend.
>KV
Our original wind phone now lives at a community garden. The volunteers & visitors find it a helpful tool to support their grief. We are happy this phone has found a home.
So we've recently bought another pre-loved rotary dial wind phone to accompany us at upcoming community events and workshops.
Glastonbury Tor, the Malvern Hills, the North Sea, Bantock Park, Thor's Cave, the River Taff, Rushton Hall, Probus, Hem Heath Wood. It's gonna be a big map!
Where would your map take people? π
LV's ode to David Lynch in a hand-drawn memorial map.
Sometimes we mourn people we didn't know.
This treasure map could be the basis for acts of remembrance at a community level.
If you loved David Lynch, his approach & his work, then following this map could bring solace, joy & connection.
>KV
We'll be running a workshop this Saturday on creating treasure hunts as DIY remembrance rituals at the Modern Funeral Rituals Conference in Todmorden.
We've enjoyed reflecting on the antecedents of this approach. These led us to set up a public geocache in memory of our dad.
>KV
#deathsky
A large sculptural installation that depicts a circular web connecting the principles of permaculture design thinking.
Today, I found myself in a community allotment supporting someone to plan a natural burial ceremony. We walked slowly around the allotment, looking close-up at plants. We smelled the roses, tasted the rocket gone to seed, felt the wind & rain on our faces & touched the fuzzy borage & comfrey leaves.
LV has published a piece visually narrating a recent family road trip to bury the ashes of our grandmother. Reuniting our nan's remains with the place she called home for over 70 years.
Subscribe to The Mortal Portal for free or become one of our 'paying porties'
open.substack.com/pub/deadgood...
Our Little Rotter motif will be featuring in the Routledge Handbook of Dark Events: Celebrations, Heritage & Customs of Death & the Macabre.
Little Rotter will be part of a chapter written by Chantal Laws: 'Managing collective memory through funeral events: an experience design perspective'.
>KV
Bringing green burial into the public imagination is a core aim of ours.
We talked eco-funerals non-stop at the Big Planting Conference in Sunderland today.
It really is okay to decay.
Let's all become trees, brambles, wildflowers & mushrooms when we die.
Bury me in an orchard.
>KV
#deathsky
I.D. a photo of KV (white woman with orange hair, glasses and black feather collar) and LV (white woman with brown hair, glasses, acid green headband, dark green velvet dress and a gold 'fuck no' pendant on a thin gold chain) taken at the Good Funeral Awards 2023. The other images are screen shots from the website homepage of the Association for the Study of Death & Society about this year's annual awards.
The @asdsdeath.bsky.social has announced the finalists for their four annual mortality-inspired awards. DEAD GOOD is shortlisted for the Public Engagement award as are @deathstudiespod.bsky.social & @victstuproject.bsky.social
@christinamartin.bsky.social shortlisted for the Book Award too.
>KV
ASDS logo. Public Engagement Award Shortlist! Dead Good (deadgood.org) The Death Studies Podcast (thedeathstudiespodcast.com) The Victoria and Stuart Project (victoriaandstuart.com) Winner to be announced: August 2025
βοΈCongratulations to all the ASDS public engagement award shortlisted projectsβοΈ
Check out @deathstudiespod.bsky.social, @deadgoodlegacies.bsky.social & @victstuproject.bsky.social to discover their brilliant work in raising public awareness of important issues related to death, dying, grief & loss.
A new addition to A Matter of Life and Death Festival! Join Itzatna Arts online on 8th May for the π¬πΌππ§ππ―π² π£πΏπ²πΊπΆπ²πΏπ² πΌπ³ βπ¦ππΌπΏπΆπ²π π’π³ π§π΅π² πͺπΆπ»π±β A magical children's theatre experience sharing traditional Mexican tales about life, death and rebirth!
brumyodo.org.uk/event/livest...
a willow coffin outdoors topped with many glass jars of handpicked flowers from a British garden.
Two months ago, I uploaded 4 images from our October funerals photoshoot to Unsplash. I got a message today to say this one image of our willow coffin topped with jars of sustainable handpicked flowers has been downloaded over 1000 times in 60 days.
THIS IS WHAT WE HOPED FOR!
>KV
#deathsky
Little video on this sunny morning. Sitting in my garden, making some mint tea, watching the kittens play, and thinking about next week.
Dying Matters Awareness Week
&
Sustainability Week
Perfect match with our values and social objectives.
>KV
#deathsky
1 year ago today. Our photoshoot to showcase family-led, eco-friendly, garden funeral ceremonies.
We uploaded 10 professional pics to Unsplash for others to use these copyright-free. These 10 images have been downloaded over 2000 times so far.
unsplash.com/@deadgood
>KV
First, paging #horrorcommunity #horrorsky #filmsky #mutantfam - weβre hosting a The Shrouds giveaway over at @ordergooddeath.bsky.social
I have a LOT to say about Cronenbergβs latest film as it sits firmly at the center of my horror + funerals + the dead body wheelhouse. For now, Iβll share this
Iβm so excited to introduce a new game: Seasonala Cemetery β explore the serene beauty of an urban cemetery and see how it changes in real-time with the time of day and seasons. A completely free game coming soon to Windows/Mac
Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/3272690/Seasonala_Cemetery/
Last week, I planted the six pea seeds sent by my aunt on my birthday. Actual heirloom seeds. The original packet was given to her by my (dead) dad. He used to grow these in the back garden. A staple on the Sunday dinner plate.
I worried they might not grow.
THIS IS HAPPENING AFTER ONE WEEK.
>KV
