2024 - A Warm Goodbye

Death is a subject that everyone must face. In most parts of China, when an important person leaves this world, people will bury him according to tradition, set up a tombstone, and perform worship ceremonies in front of the tombstone in the days to come. But this process is always a unilateral way for the living to mourn the deceased, which is full of sadness and solemnity. So can we make the event of death less cold, so that the living can get comfort from rituals rather than just grief?
In this project, we hope to reconstruct the rituals after people die and use the heat of sunlight to warm this commemorative process. Tombstones are shaped by hugs from important people of the deceased and remain in the shape of receiving hugs. Therefore, the shape of each tombstone is different, thus emphasizing the uniqueness of each and strengthening the connection between the dead and the living.
When people come to pay their respects to the deceased, they no longer just look at the tombstone and grieve, but embrace the tombstone that represents the deceased with affection. The heat of sunlight is absorbed by the tombstone, and due to the adjustment of the photochromic powder, the temperature is maintained close to the human body. Therefore, when people hug the tombstone, they will feel as if they are embracing the deceased, and then get a warm feeling and spiritual comfort. The tombstones in the cemetery take on different colors because they are coated with photochromic powder of different colors, symbolizing that the once splendid and colorful life of the deceased is still going on.