Despite its profound ripple effects on families, workplaces, and communities, grief remains an overlooked crisis. An immersive public art installation that creates a space for collective mourning is part of a broader movement to change the ways communities and societies address, plan, and design for grief.
On a crisp November morning in 2024, Zarah Ling (name changed) set out from her home in Guelph, Ontario – a city known for its quiet charm, historic architecture, and strong sense of community. That day her journey took her beyond her usual routine – driving more than three hours to and from Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto. While not her typical commute, she felt compelled to go.
A close friend had recommended a public art installation called Space for Grief, describing it as both simple and profound – a place where grief could be held, shared, and perhaps even transformed.
Earlier that year, Zarah had lost her mother. The weight of her own sorrow was compounded by the grief of her children, who struggled to understand why their grandmother was gone, or why their mother’s sadness seemed to linger. Despite trying therapy, time off work, grief support groups, and every resource she could find online, something still felt unresolved.
She wasn’t sure what she would find at the installation – but she knew she had to go.
Arriving at Evergreen Brick Works, Zarah was met with a sight unlike anything she had expected. Outside the entrance to Space for Grief, a diverse gathering of people sat between the plants and trees of the courtyard. Some were engaged in quiet conversation. Others wept openly. Strangers embraced. Families held hands. There was no rush, no shame – only a shared recognition that grief, so often hidden, deserved to be seen.
She stepped inside the installation – and didn’t emerge for three hours.
Through immersive visuals, soundscapes, personal narratives, and interactive spaces, Space for Grief provided something that traditional grief support had not – a place where grief was given form. Not as something to be “overcome,” but as something that could be acknowledged, explored, and even honoured.
Zarah later described the experience as both profound and calming – a place that gave her grief safety and meaning in a way she hadn’t expected.
For many, Space for Grief has reshaped their understanding of mourning, healing, and human connection.
She wasn’t alone in feeling this. Thousands of visitors have left handwritten reflections in the guestbook, sharing their own experiences of loss and healing, and how Space for Grief had helped them in ways they never thought possible. For many, it has reshaped their understanding of mourning, healing, and human connection.
Zarah’s story is just one of many – a testament to the impact of creating Space for Grief as both an experience and a movement. In a world that often urges people to “move on” from loss, this public yet private space invites people to stay, to feel, and to share the weight together.
What is Space for Grief?
Space for Grief is an immersive public art installation designed to explore grief, healing, and community connection through a fusion of science, art, and technology. It integrates neuroscience, psychology, and global Indigenous knowledge with sensory experiences, visual storytelling, and soundscapes to create a space for collective mourning and emotional processing. Through this grief-informed approach, the installation fosters deeper community care and shared healing. Unlike many traditional therapy or clinical support options, it is accessible to all – without stigma, barriers, or cost.
Interestingly, the initiative incorporates the notion of futures thinking and strategic foresight, particularly as it relates to grief-informed futures (a strategic framework developed by the team at Method Collective), to help develop resilience in communities as well as allow them to weather shocks and changes caused by global and local circumstances, economics, climate, or personal tragedy.
The installation series is part of a broader initiative that aims to create a movement around the ways communities and societies address, plan, and design for grief.
The installation series is part of a broader initiative that aims to create a movement around the ways communities and societies address, plan, and design for grief. This includes considerations in architecture, housing, workplace policies, and healthcare.
Space for Grief was created by design studio Method Collective, whose work is rooted in systems theory, strategic foresight, and life-centred design, ensuring that grief is recognized not just as a personal experience but as a structural and societal issue that demands intentional design and policy solutions. The project is the result of more than five years of research and development involving interviews with subject matter experts, case-study reviews, and international exploration of cultural traditions around grief, as well as the study of unique art installation designs.
What became increasingly clear was that existing systems fail to support grief in meaningful and adequate ways – a striking shortcoming for a universal human experience. Space for Grief, along with a robust network of community partners, was created to address this systemic failure, advocating for a more inclusive, informed, and supportive approach to grief across communities, institutions, and cultural narratives.
A project of the scale of Space for Grief requires the buy-in and support of many community partners, a village, that helps with everything from providing the venue to funding, equipment, and community outreach. Some key partners have included the Toronto Public Library, Evergreen Brick Works, Mount Pleasant Group, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Bereaved Families of Ontario, Maker Bean Cafe, EPiQVision, CP Planning, Mobilizing Justice, and the Canadian Grief Alliance. This cross-sectoral collaboration has highlighted an important lesson: grief is not just an individual matter, it’s a community responsibility.
Research bodies around the world are adapting the installation and lessons learned from it into policy design frameworks, tool kits, and new installations for hospitals, schools, and workplaces.
Since its inception in 2023, Space for Grief has engaged more than 20,000 visitors, partnered with multiple local and international organizations, received positive media feedback and invitations to present and speak about the impact, and is being explored as a model for healthcare design in the United Kingdom. In addition, research bodies around the world are adapting the installation and lessons learned from it into policy design frameworks, tool kits, and new installations for hospitals, schools, and workplaces.
Why focus on grief?
The non-profit and philanthropic sectors have long been at the forefront of addressing societal challenges – housing, climate action, education. But grief remains an overlooked crisis, despite its profound ripple effects on families, workplaces, and entire communities.
Grief is a natural human response to loss, transition, or profound change, an experience that touches nearly everyone yet remains widely misunderstood. While commonly perceived as solely an emotional experience, grief extends far beyond feelings. The prevailing expectations around “moving on” swiftly and returning to normal routines undermines the physical impacts of the natural grieving process, prompting many to suppress their emotions. This can cause both short- and long-term impairments and reductions in productivity at home and the workplace, affecting family and societal support systems.
Yet, despite its profound impacts on mental and physical health, grief remains one of the most misunderstood, stigmatized, and underfunded aspects of public well-being. Education and social services are facing increased demand for mental health support and therapy. Overloaded healthcare systems focus on reactivity and crisis management, not proactivity, long-term grief, or healing. Further exacerbating the issue, our productivity- and profit-driven society often overlooks and ignores grief in the design of our education, health, and workplace policies.
The philanthropic sector has long been at the forefront of addressing societal challenges, but grief remains an overlooked crisis, despite its profound ripple effects on families, workplaces, and entire communities.
While Canada is home to diverse cultures with varying traditions around grief, mainstream Canadian society tends to minimize open expressions of mourning and lacks structured and cultural support beyond immediate loss.
This is visible in how workplace bereavement policies across Canada are structured. For example, while employment-standard policies vary across provinces and territories, only three provinces – Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec – are required to offer paid days off (from one to three days). Approximately half of the remaining provinces offer two to three days of unpaid bereavement leave, and the rest offer from five to seven days. While the non-profit sector tends to offer more flexibility around bereavement leave, many organizations still provide only a maximum of seven days of combined paid and unpaid leave.
For many that have lost a loved one, the first week is usually spent planning the funeral and burial. The pain of the initial loss is sadly often compounded by a mountain of logistics that can require weeks to months to complete. This onslaught of tasks leaves only small pockets of time to even begin to emotionally process grief or recuperate from the physical symptoms. This can be harder for those with loved ones outside of Canada, when having to account for travel time, jet lag, and more.
Research suggests that unaddressed grief has annual systemic costs in the hundreds of billions of dollars for North America alone in rising healthcare costs and declining economic health.
While much of philanthropic funding goes toward crisis intervention – which is necessary but reactive – funding dollars are increasingly stretched to also encompass the growing need for mental health training and support services to cover the grief gap for both communities and front-line staff. Many organizations, from food banks to shelters to youth services, already work with communities experiencing grief in various forms. While some organizations recognize the importance of grief-informed care (for both clients and staff), there is still a big gap and opportunity to enhance their ability to provide more meaningful support around grief.
What if we stopped treating grief as something to endure and started addressing it proactively?
The idea of proactive planning has been percolating across multiple industries in the form of strategic foresight for decades. Long-term planning, be it succession planning or product design, has benefited from proactive thinking, with firms that invest in long-term thinking outperforming peers by more than 33%. Proactive planning helps build resilience for preferred and undesired futures alike, and can promote flexibility and agility.
Supporting grief may be the missing link in public health funding.
Supporting grief may be the missing link in public health funding. Supporting it doesn’t just help individuals; it strengthens entire families, workplaces, and communities. The prevailing narrative often frames grief as a personal burden, but in reality, it is a societal responsibility that requires shared recognition and support. Further, a proactive investment of funding dollars supports organizations and communities to reduce downstream costs related to healthcare, social services, and workplace absenteeism at a time when crises are mounting.
Space for Grief is helping to redefine the narrative around grief by demonstrating that grief is not just an individual experience but a communal one. It is working to establish grief-informed community care spaces that drive systemic change in how grief is acknowledged and supported across society, by advocating for shifts in workplace policies, enhancing healthcare experiences, and integrating grief education into broader processes and cultural frameworks.
The team behind Space for Grief envisions a world where grief is honoured rather than hidden and met with compassion and dignity – where every community has a dedicated, beautiful, and calming space for collective mourning, reflection, and healing and no one has to grieve alone.
