grief map

a digital archive for collective mourning



the grief map is a place for the memorials that we wish we could build--and the artifacts that we have created--to commemorate a lost loved one, relationship, or home, but cannot, for various reasons, plant in the desired location.

it can be comforting to share your grief with strangers, especially when it is tied to place. here, we can share with others how spaces have been fundamentally changed for us by loss. though the physical world may look the same, our emotional landscape is not so easily rearranged. rather than trying to make sense of that change, we will seek simply to represent it through our own process of imagining and making.

all submissions are anonymous, although you will be prompted to log in with a google account so that you can access all the markers that you have created at any time. others will not see your name or contact information.




instructions

the process for creating an artifact or imagining a memorial can be as free or as structured as you want it to be. one option is to build or sketch an artifact using any material you want. you can add as much descriptive text as you like, or none at all. for a more structured process, see the two sets of instructions below.

this first set of instructions is for a more physical, hands on approach (but requires a printer):

  1. find the place where you want to build a memorial or place an artifact on google maps street view
  2. take a screenshot of the exact spot and print it out
  3. draw, sew, spill, paste or otherwise depict your imagined structure on the printed image
  4. take a picture of what you made and upload it onto the map at "add a marker"

the second option is a digital method, so you can complete the whole process online:

  1. find the place where you want to build a memorial or place an artifact on google maps street view
  2. take a screenshot of the exact spot and upload it to the draw a memorial tool
  3. use the tool to represent your imagined structure as closely as possible (it may take a few tries)
  4. save what you made and upload it onto the map at "add a marker"

every mark on the map

every mark you've made

submit a location

choose the location of your marker by specifying its latitude and longitude. you can go to this page to convert an address to latitude and longitude.
upload an image of your artifact or imagined memorial. then, add a title and description. click submit to place your marker on the map. you will be able to view all of your own markers on the "my markers" page.














map icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com