Death is a sensitive subject to many that is to be avoided as a topic of conversation whenever possible. But a new exhibit at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is seeking to make death approachable and understandable by showing visitors the reality of the subject ranging from the funerary traditions of various world cultures to a recreation of a mortuary’s embalming room. The idea behind the exhibit is to allow people to see the places and things that go along with death but presented in a manner that is approachable by using, in part, colors that are not associated with death throughout the display. The museum has also jumped into the right to die debate by having a recreation of a room from a Swiss assisted-dying center complete with display of the drugs that are administered to the patient. The exhibition has been a respectable success drawing 36,000 visitors since it opened on October and runs until March 13, 2016.
See, Can good cheer and honest talk change our gloomy perspective on death?, The Economist, January 26, 2016.
Special thanks to Lewis Saret for bringing this article to my attention.
