Festival Events
Check out this link for more information about how to get involved in To Absent Friends 2015.
A fantastic array of open events took place as part of To Absent Friends 2014:
Colin Gray: a journey with his parents through love, life and death
Colin Gray exhibited a selection of works documenting his 34-year collaborative journey with his parents. It included work from The Parents series, which started in 1980; from In Sickness and in Health, photographs that explore his parents’ older age and his mother's death; and a preview of new work from Do Us Part, his ongoing series of images of his father and daughter.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra quartet
Musicians from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra treated the audience to a special evening of music, storytelling and remembrance.
Death Cafe of Remembrance
Many people are keen to talk about death for all sorts of reasons. It helps us share sorrow; it helps us come to terms with our own mortality; it helps us accept loss; it helps us celebrate people we’ve loved and lost. Sometimes folks need ‘permission’ or a safe place to share openly. And that’s what a death café provides.
Cafe of Reminiscence
At Death Cafes people come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea and eat delicious cake. A light-hearted natter taking the darkness out of death, whether you believe in an afterlife or not.
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Once upon a time, November was a time to remember our loved ones who have died. This was part of the origins of Halloween, a time when the veil between the worlds was said to be thin, a time when we would call our dearly departed to mind.
Brass band music by candlelight
An enthusiastic audience filled the stunning St John's Church in Edinburgh, joining Edinburgh Brass Band for a night of celebration and remembrance by candlelight.
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