Obituaries aimed to raise youth’s consciousness of death

We thank Mr Heng Cho Choon for his letter, “Death is serious, obituaries should be too” (Aug 7). We assure him and TODAY readers that we take death seriously.

The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and Mandate Advertising have taken part in the Obitcheery initiative by invitation of the Lien Foundation, which advocates better care for the dying as part of its mission for excellence in eldercare.

Since 2006, the foundation has sought to open up end-of-life conversations to increase awareness of issues on death and dying.

Obitcheery is one of its efforts to change the norms of death notices and to inspire joyful remembrances of the departed.

With this in mind, NAFA’s creative exercise aimed to heighten young people’s consciousness of end-of-life matters. Their responses and designs have shown an appreciation of what matters in life.

They fondly highlight aspects of the person they wish to commemorate and reflections on how one’s legacies can transcend death. Even the little things or characteristics of a person can be endearing and lovingly remembered.

Without trivialising an important issue, the students showed their non-traditional view of death, where the life of the deceased can be celebrated earnestly and even with laughter.

Besides partnering NAFA, Mandate Advertising and the Lien Foundation had worked together to create a series of in-memoriam ads for 18 families wishing to honour their loved ones.

The ads, created in consultation with the families, released creative expressions of love and tributes that captured the essence and life of the departed with poignant power.

We hope that this initiative will continue to spur us to give greater thought to death and the beauty that lies even within the passing of a life.