Art League Houston (ALH) proudly presents The Secret Society of Grief, a public art installation by artist Royal Sumikat. In an era where the COVID pandemic forced grieving loved ones to find alternative avenues for processing emotions and finding comfort, Sumikat offers the viewer a space to feel connected and understood. This piece is the visual accompaniment for Sumikat’’s poem written after losing their father unexpectedly in the summer of 2022:
Grief is a secret society.
A mystery school of initiates
Who gather
To hold each other up
And
Only speak of it discreetly to
Protect the
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Art League Houston (ALH) proudly presents The Secret Society of Grief, a public art installation by artist Royal Sumikat. In an era where the COVID pandemic forced grieving loved ones to find alternative avenues for processing emotions and finding comfort, Sumikat offers the viewer a space to feel connected and understood. This piece is the visual accompaniment for Sumikat’’s poem written after losing their father unexpectedly in the summer of 2022:
Grief is a secret society.
A mystery school of initiates
Who gather
To hold each other up
And
Only speak of it discreetly to
Protect the comforts of the uninitiated.
Grief members gather around in support of a new initiate to the Grief Society. Each of them carries a crystal representing the rarity and beauty of the love they had for the person who passed away. The new initiate struggles to lift themself up from the floor as they bear the immense weight of the gigantic crystal symbolizing love’s double-edged sword: the deeper the connection, the heavier the loss. As time passes, the crystal, still rare and beautiful, reduces in size and the seasoned initiates take on the duty of supporting new members as grief becomes more manageable to carry. Everyone eventually becomes initiated.
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