Join us as part of the AMOLAD (A Matter Of Life And Death) Festival this year, and decorate your own Clay Remembrance object.

Natural clay has the potential to take many forms, just like memory, feeling, and connection.

Grief and remembrance don’t follow a fixed timeline. Whether you are remembering someone who passed recently or long ago, we invite you to take part in a quiet, reflective act: decorating a small clay token in their honour.

Your object can be shaped or decorated in any way that feels meaningful to you. It might include an image that resembles them, a symbol or object that reminds you of them, a quote they loved, or something more abstract like the heart of a flower that expresses how you feel.

Once finished, your clay piece can become a personal keepsake, or you may choose to place it somewhere meaningful, outside, in a garden, or a special place, allowing it to slowly return to the earth.

Clay has long been connected to rituals of remembrance across cultures and time. In the Neolithic period, clay vessels were placed in graves to accompany the dead. In Etruscan cultures, urns holding ashes were shaped to resemble the deceased. In Japan’s Kofun period, clay figures stood as guardians over burial sites, while in ancient Greece, terracotta offerings were left at graves as acts of honour and memory.

This workshop offers a space to connect with these enduring traditions, and to create something personal, tactile, and meaningful.

About BrumYODO

BrumYODO (You Only Die Once) brings together a diverse network of creatives, care professionals, and local communities to encourage open conversations about death. They believe a “good death” is possible when people feel informed and empowered, and create safe, collaborative spaces and public events across Birmingham to help people better prepare for dying and loss.

Location: Industrial Gallery