Looking out her window at Abbotsford Convent, Kate Davis is grateful for the warmth and beauty of the autumn sun. Her lifelong fascination with death helps her appreciate every day more fully – and she wants others to join her in looking death squarely in the eye.
A death doula and an artist, Davis makes nests using hair – her own and her son’s – and flowers at varying stages of decomposition, the petals of which remind her of human skin.
Underlying all her work are questions around death. “There’s this repulsion that a lot of western society has around death and the body, and what happens when we die. Even just having a conversation about what happens to our bodies [seems difficult],” she says.
On Sunday, she will host The Death Salon, a relaxed, free event designed to help start those conversations.
Held at Abbotsford Convent, where she has been artist-in-residence for the past three months, the Salon is similar to the idea of a death cafe, she says: “An unfacilitated, organic conversation; there’s no agenda, no advice, it’s purely this free-form communal space where you sit with strangers and talk.”
“I wanted to do something similar … but I wanted to heighten it slightly with a little aesthetic stuff, a little music and maybe a glass of wine.”
Having time at the convent to hone her ideas and make art has been wonderful, she says, describing her space there as a decomposition studio.
Fascinated by death since childhood, Davis remembers a family friend dying from a terminal illness. “I remember witnessing his physical decline and being quite affected by it – and wondering why are we not talking about it.”
Later, she held her tabby cat, Indiana, while he died in her arms.
Then, her beloved brother-in-law died young from cancer; she was honoured to be there in his final moments. “I realised that none of us have the basic information [about what to do] and we’re having to make decisions in very acute moments of grief. If we can hold that information before moments like that, we can make decisions that are informed.”
Davis is the artistic director and co-founder of The Rabble, with Emma Valente. The experimental theatre group is highly acclaimed and tackles big issues including ageing, care and consent.
She has been collecting hair from her hairbrush for a long time. “When it builds up it creates this natural nest, it is very specimen-like, reminiscent of insect pinning or butterfly pinning,” she says.
Eventually, the installation will have 50 of these hair nests in perspex with a mirror behind, like a hair archive. People have a very visceral reaction to the work, she says.
“Pulling the hair apart, it’s a bit like being drawn and quartered, like I am back at school doing disgusting science experiments,” Davis says. “That’s what I have been playing with, this juxtaposition of beauty and ugliness, how do they connect?”
Last year, Davis completed her training as a death doula, to support individuals and families through the end of life. It involves talking to people facing death and helping them explore options, rather than defaulting to the one-size-fits-all approach determined by big funeral companies.
Home vigils are amazing, she says. “You can have your loved one at home on an ice bed for up to seven days, [which] allows time for the brain to come around to it.”
She also suggests people witness cremations. “There’s something about seeing the body go to underline that the person is gone. I want that – it helps my brain understand what is happening.”
It’s art meets life for Davis. Looking truth in the eye, asking questions, telling stories and having the big, difficult conversations.
The Death Salon is at Abbotsford Convent on March 29, 5-7pm.
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