Fabrica

Luna Arts, founded by visual artists Wendy Pye and Dagmara Rudkin, is a Brighton based new community arts and wellbeing organisation dedicated to creatively exploring the cultural dimensions of death. Their work examines contemporary beliefs, attitudes, and rituals surrounding funerals, life ceremonies, and memorialisation, while creating a supportive creative space to break down barriers and encourage open conversations about death and dying.

This residency will also mark the launch of their Arts Council-funded R&D project, which focuses on developing Luna Arts as an organisation. As emphasised in Death, Dying & Devolution, an Institute for Policy Research brief, "Avoiding discussing death leaves us vulnerable and unprepared, which can adversely affect our mental health." By encouraging open dialogue through creative activities, Luna Arts aims to challenge this avoidance and promote greater acceptance and understanding of mortality in a thoughtful, supportive environment.

During the residency, Luna Arts will collaborate with therapeutic practitioners, academics specialising in death studies and ethics, professionals from the death industry, and fellow artists exploring death-related themes. They will also engage in conversations and gather feedback from workshops and event participants to inform their upcoming projects with hospices and community groups.

On Tuesday 25 March, there will be the opportunity to participate in creative workshops that encourage open conversations about death and dying. More information and tickets here

Join Luna Arts on Thursday 27 March at 6.30pm, as they experiment with the idea of hosting a Death Salon - an informal gathering inspired by the eighteenth-century salon, where ideas and culture were freely exchanged. More information and tickets here

This Death Salon is a space for collaboration and exploration, challenging traditional perspectives on death, funerals, grief, and memorialisation. Through presentations, installations, performances, and discussions, Wendy, Dagmara, and their guests will test new approaches to remembrance and legacy, inviting participants to engage in the process of rethinking how we honour and remember. More information and tickets here

Luna Arts originates from Wendy Pye’s 17-year exploration of death and dying, starting during her MA in Photographic Arts and deepening through Death Doula training, counselling, and Samaritans volunteering. This journey highlighted the therapeutic value of open conversations about death.

Wendy co-founded Soul Films, collaborating with Flexible Films to create short films celebrating individuals nearing the end of life or who have died. These films feature a unique memorial concept—a QR code linking to the film on a plaque in a public space, connecting memory to place. Commissions include films for poet Benjamin Zephaniah and Death Café founder John Underwood. Wendy also lectures in Photography and Collaboration at Falmouth University and explores life and death themes in her projects, including live spoken word performances with writers and musicians.

Dagmara’s fine art practice, developed during her MA in Sequential Design, is rooted in myths, rituals, and religion. Her recent work focuses on the art of burial shrouding, creating handmade, sustainable shrouds from recycled textiles as a personal, eco-conscious alternative to traditional coffins. She offers bespoke workshops where participants design and craft shrouds or memorial cloths, encouraging reflection on mortality and grief. Dagmara also lectures and runs mixed media workshops in art and design.

As members of the Brighton/Hove Health & Arts Wellbeing Network and participants in therapeutic sessions with the Orange Collective, Wendy and Dagmara have received valuable support for this project. This has inspired an in-depth Arts Council funded R&D phase to advance their workshops and research how creative activities can encourage conversations about death, dying, and remembrance, helping to break taboos around these topics.