SHARED FRAMEWORKS

THESE BONES

The research period of Shared Frameworks underlined that many people’s first encounter with death and dying is when faced with the death of a loved one. Whilst this is often difficult for adults to deal with, for children it can be unfathomable and lead to lifelong trauma. A plan was hatched to adapt Shared Frameworks to raise issues of death and dying with children and young people. It was decided to do so under the more age-appropriate name These Bones.

These Bones was designed to educate children and young people with age-appropriate concepts, language and data, to empower them in thinking and speaking about death and the physical body, and to talk with agency from a young age about these vital subjects. The project sought to improve young people and children’s death literacy, knowledge about the death of the physical body, and to explore these issues when young, in order to be more resilient adults in the future.

Robert and Lucy rigorously researched talking about death and dying with children and young people and its relation to mental health. In dialogue with Child Bereavement UK, the pair learnt that British people are not as culturally poor at talking about death and dying as is often assumed, but in fact findings suggest we primarily fear banging into social mores and the repercussions this may then have. Similarly, Hospice UK said in an exchange that children and young people are often fed ambiguous language (‘passed away’ or ‘gone to sleep’) and are not often involved in grieving processes or funerals, due to an adult concern that children do not have the emotional maturity to cope with the reality of death, thus often feeding directly into poor mental health and wellbeing.

In May 2019, a day-long public showing of Shared Frameworks at the Think Tank was used as an opportunity to trial the work with some young people. A group of 15 pupils from Chantry Academy aged 11 and 12 spent two hours with the puzzle, during which time they met with Robert and Lucy, and a Child Bereavement Counsellor from St Elizabeth’s Hospice. This session demonstrated that young people are more than capable of engaging with death and dying as topics.

As a result of these conversations and testing, a plan was hatched. A photograph of a human child’s skeleton would be made into a jigsaw puzzle, showing bones that to untrained eyes could be of any gender, age or heritage. Piecing together this inclusive image would allow for conversation between participants and experts at live jigsaw sessions, to deliver key project concepts and learning from a range of experts and specialists.

These Bones would enable kids and young people space for contemplation and relaxed exchanges around death and dying. Like joining a table to eat, the puzzle format is easy to understand, meaning participants are able to understand straight away how to get involved and join in. Gradually, information about the death of the physical body would be introduced, sharing that this is a natural process we will all undergo. The conversations would then carefully expand age-appropriately, for example, introducing bioscience, or ethical and medical elements. The jigsaw sessions were proposed for delivery in schools by trained professionals. A dedicated resource pack would be designed and left with teachers after the sessions to enable a continued dialogue with students.

Whilst fully researched, These Bones was not realised as a live work by the time Robert folded Pacitti Company. If supporting the creation and presentation of it is of interest to anyone reading, please email.