Creative Mourning

PAUSE x Feminist Center for Creative Work (FCCW)

Creative Mourning is a six-month, in-person peer support series designed for people of color in Los Angeles. Facilitated in partnership with PAUSE and the Feminist Center for Creative Work, these peer-led gatherings offer a creative, non-clinical space to explore grief, memory, and transformation through art — outside of institutional and therapeutic frameworks.

Each monthly session invites participants to explore grief through a different artistic modality - painting, collage, music, poetry, and more - guided by guest creatives and grounded by the presence of experienced grief-holders from our communities, including a POC mental health practitioner and a death doula. Together, we’ll make, move, and reflect in community - holding space for grief to surface creatively, and supporting one another through presence, ritual, and art.

Whether you're grieving a person, a place, a version of yourself, or a collective loss, this circle welcomes you. Participants will also receive a curated grief resource booklet and be part of a creative pilot exploring how access to art can expand the ways we understand, express, and relate to grief.

Though we will have a mental health professional present, this space is not a substitute for therapy or crisis support. Instead, it is an offering for creative witnessing, collective exploration, and community-making around grief.

Free and open to 10 participants who identify as People of Color.

Gathering descriptions

5:30-5:50 - Arrival & Grounding
Breathwork + body map: “Where is grief in your body today?”
5:50-6:10 - Guest Instructor Intro
Guest creative shares how creative practice supports grief.
Prompt option: “Make something small that helps you carry or name your grief.”
6:10-6:40 - Creative Time
Participants make small grief talismans using natural/found materials.
6:40-7:10 - Circle Share
Reflections on what their object holds or represents.
7:10-7:30 - Closing Ritual
Burn slips with written burdens (outdoors).
Group breath release.
5:30-5:50 - Grounding
Color visualization meditation: “What color is your grief today?”
5:50-6:10 - Guest Instructor Intro
Artist shares visual response to grief.
Prompt option: “What does your grief look like when no one is watching?”
6:10-6:40 - Creative Time
Abstract painting/drawing with watercolors, ink, pastels.
6:40-7:10 - Circle Share
Share pieces or process; no interpretation required.
7:10-7:30 - Closing Ritual
Silent group witness of a shared art wall with candlelight.
5:30-5:50 - Grounding
Paper-tearing meditation to match the breath.
5:50-6:10 - Guest Instructor Intro
Collage artist shares grief altar or memorial page.
Prompt option: “Create a visual altar for someone, a time, or a version of yourself you’ve lost.”
6:10-6:40 - Creative Time
Collage with magazines, text, fabric, and images.
6:40-7:10 - Circle Share
Reflections on the meaning or emotional process.
7:10-7:30 - Closing Ritual
Group affirmation.
Altar display.
5:30-5:50 - Grounding
Read-aloud of a poem on grief; short reflection.
5:50-6:10 - Guest Instructor Intro
Poet shares work and writing prompts.
Prompt options: “If I could speak to my grief…” / “My grief lives in…” / blackout poetry.
6:10-6:40 - Creative Time
Writing in silence or to music. Journals provided.
6:40-7:10 - Circle Share
Optional readings or reflections on writing.
7:10-7:30 - Closing Ritual
Group poem created from single lines by each participant.
5:30-5:50 - Grounding
Humming meditation or collective sound bath.
5:50-6:10 - Guest Instructor Intro
Musician or DJ introduces playlist, shares story of grief and sound.
Prompt option: “Create or share a sound that reflects your grief.”
6:10-6:40 - Creative Time
Build playlists, use instruments, hum, sing, or move with rhythm.
6:40-7:10 - Circle Share
Reflections and optional sharing of chosen music.
7:10-7:30 - Closing Ritual
Listen to a group-selected track in silence.
5:30-5:50 - Grounding
Visualization: “What has grown or changed in your grief?”
5:50-6:10 - Guest Instructor Intro
Muralist shares vision of grief-to-beauty transformation.
Prompt: “What grief are you transforming into meaning or beauty?”
6:10-6:40 - Creative Time
Everyone paints on a shared canvas (can be portable or paper-based).
6:40-7:10 - Circle Share
Reflections on personal and collective change.
7:10-7:30 - Closing Ritual
Naming circle: what we are releasing and taking with us.