Mel Keiser, Artist in Residence, presents Gravedigging Practicum
May 13, 2021
Mel Keiser, the Kaplan Institute's spring 2021 artist in residence, will present A Practicum for Digging a Grave on May 15, 2021 (9 am to 1 pm CT).
Led by Keiser and certified gravediggers Kris Bloedow and Bill Jessen, participants will learn the increasingly forgotten but age-old skill of manually digging a grave. The project will provide reflection on the ability of this labor to simultaneously inter the deceased, mirror the process of grieving, and direct emotion into social action.
For details for the event:
About Mel Keiser
Entangling the borders of reality and fiction, Keiser's multidisciplinary work explores the social and psychological impact of treating herself not as one single person but a series of distinct self-versions. Claiming these self-versions were born and died—in 2003, twice in 2007, 2011, 2014, 2018, and 2020—Keiser is currently making a body for each of her selves and burying them in a cemetery.
Read more about Keiser at Kaplan's Artist in Residence page: https://humanities.northwestern.edu/public-humanities/Artist%20in%20Residence/index.html