Tag: grief

by jad

#JimothySummer: Peace Dropping Slow

It’s official! The summer of 2026 is #JimothySummer! I have never felt prouder of my city. Thank you @councilmember.amr 🥁 and thank you Jimothy! I even teared up a little during this love fest. There were soooo many beautiful artworks that I’ll have to post a follow-up reel later to do them justice. For now, enjoy Seattle at its best 🦝 x “For peace comes dropping slow…” I was planning a follow-up video with more of the artists after yesterday’s lovely proclamation of #JimothySummer by @councilmember.amr, and before the tragic news from the Seattle Center that we all heard about … Continue reading “#JimothySummer: Peace Dropping Slow” →

by jad

The Saint Project, Grief, and Choosing Tenderness

Yesterday was so fun! Thank you @northwesttastings and everyone who passed by to chit-chat about my art! I’m really touched by the opportunity to share the stories I’ve loved so much for so long. The Saint Project will be on display for the rest of the month, so go grab yourself a glass or two and don’t skip out on the Filomena cheese (yes, like the saint!) – it’s delicious! x I’m so proud of @christine.bingham.art for her faithfulness to her art and mission, doggedly pursuing every project she puts her mind to for however long it takes, against any … Continue reading “The Saint Project, Grief, and Choosing Tenderness” →

by jad

A Season of Grief, Ofrendas, and Grief Bursts

We are in a season of grief. Ofrendas are everywhere, in galleries and at protests. KEXP is playing music about it. There’s a play titled “Eulogy: Or How to Plan Your Own Funeral” showing on Capitol Hill. Some of this comes from wider diffusion of traditional ritual: from All Hallows’ to All Souls’, via Dia de los Muertos, the culture is learning to look past the ghoulish masks of Halloween to the thinning of the veil that they celebrate. So many of us this year are choosing to walk through that, into the vale of tears and out into garden … Continue reading “A Season of Grief, Ofrendas, and Grief Bursts” →

by jad

Altogether Ooky (Soap Kills and Songs of Grief)

Altogether ooky. x ليه زعلان ليه؟ أنا مش زعلانه ليه خيفان ليه؟ أنا مش خيفانه و ليه، وليه منك رجال و ليه؟ منك رجال و ليه؟ منك رجال و ليه؟ x Violent Are the streets in town And your words and your thoughts Hopelessly drown. (Soap Kills – Violence) x

by jad

Spooky Season and My Father’s Dying Days

I guess I wasn’t really actively thinking about it much last year, but the reality is, spooky season will always coincide with my father’s dying days and final demise from now on. That puts a different spin on every memento mori of this time. It was actually my dad’s birthday on Sunday, but I didn’t know what to think of that. All I can think about is that we never really made much of thing of it while he was alive. So, now what? x Soon, it will be 1 year since, in just less than 1 month. And soon … Continue reading “Spooky Season and My Father’s Dying Days” →

by jad

Turned Upside Down

I did some art therapy today. Here’s my piece. The session was about processing grief however we might define it, and we were to use water, hodgepodge, and these colored bits of tissue paper that bleed ink when dabbed or spritzed with moisture. I knew I wanted to use squares and grabbed a stack and two large pieces of red and black and started with the shape they made when I’d set them on the desk. I was initially focused on how I felt, but as I repeated the red and black motif, I started thinking of dad and the … Continue reading “Turned Upside Down” →

by jad

Grove of the Grievers

“I’ll never stop looking for a signGive me a signGive me a sign I’ll never stop looking for a signGive me a signGive me a sign I’ll never stop looking for a signGive me a signGive me a sign.” Every year for the past several, I come to this retreat and hope for a reset, and every year it feels hollow or incomplete. This year is not radically different, but a shift has undeniably happened as well. A shift in me but also a shift in the things that have trapped me in this cycle of hope and frustration—a shift … Continue reading “Grove of the Grievers” →

by jad

The Red Thread

The other day, I shared a post I’d made 5 years ago as part of a writing challenge I’d given myself in 2020 called Twenty Weeks of Gratitude. It was a memory of project I worked on in 2015, which had roots in prior work I’d started 5 years before that, so you can imagine how everything might feel like a lifetime ago. Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream, or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream, etc. I recorded these videos when these threads unexpectedly came together while I was in Lebanon … Continue reading “The Red Thread” →

by jad

Fragile Frames

The tension between slowing down and keeping up the fight; between becoming useful and being left the hell alone; between caring less and caring so much more. That’s what how this feels. Like springtime in Seattle: the tension between two fronts. There’s a season for all things; a time for expansion and a time for contraction; a time for exploration and a time to make up your mind; a time to think and a time to act. That’s how this feels. Like an inflection point. A nonlinear timeline in the upper-left corner. “Do you feel fragmented?” A friend asked me … Continue reading “Fragile Frames” →

by jad

My Heart Sees It

Someone asked me if my dad’s roll of Kodak Advantix film had been used, and I was certain it hadn’t, so imagine my heartache seeing these frames come back from the lab. This is my baby sister when she was still a baby sister. That’s the balcony at our old place; the same balcony she took her work calls on when we hung out at the same place when I was back there in January. It looks different now. So do we. I didn’t expect to see these photos so quickly. I didn’t expect to feel the way I do … Continue reading “My Heart Sees It” →