Navigating the Inevitable: Recent Episodes
Elizabeth Kauma
Death and dying are facts of life that can be difficult to navigate, understand, and live with. This podcast aims to tell stories about this inevitability that help you live with dying, and all that it means. These are stories about death that are meant to help you live. This podcast was reported, produced, and hosted by Elizabeth Kauma, a former emotional support caretaker for Hospice patients dying alone.
In this episode, I explore memorial culture in Germany with its many challenges and complications.
James E. Young has written extensively about memorialization, but his article "Germany's Memorial Problem and Mine" was a point of inspiration for this story. Sarah Farmer has written extensively on memorial culture in France, but her article "Symbols that Face Two Ways: Commemorating the Victims of Nazism and Stalinism at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen" was a touchstone for this story. I'd also like to recommend Juliet Koss's article "Coming To Turns with the Present," which is on the Places of Remembrance Memorial in the Bavarian Quater, Kathrin Hoffmann-Curtius and Susan Nurmi-Schomers article “Memorials for the Dachau Concentration Camp," and Harold Marcuse's manuscript “Holocaust Commemoration: A Strategy for West Germany.” Spencer Bailey's book is called "In Memory Of: Designing Contemporary Memorials." You can also find his work at The Slow down and At a Distance Podcasts.
In this episode, I explore mortality through art.
In Act One: Time, Mortality, and other loving relationships, I tell the story of Untitled (Perfect Lovers). 1991 by Félix González-Torres. You can see the artwork here. I highly recommend this Monograph on his work. Ghael Fobes voice acted for this story.
In Act Two: The evolution of Depictions of Decay, I follow how Japanese corpse contemplation paintings, or kusōzu, have evolved over the centuries. You can read Elizabeth Tinsley's article "The Composition of Decomposition: The Kusōzu Images of Matsui Fuyuko and Itō Seiu, and Buddhism in Erotic Grotesque Modernity" here. I also highly reccomend this virtual exhibition on Matsui's kusōzu series and this interview with the artist.
In Act Three: A Good Death for an Artist, I dicuss Édouard Manet's late work, death, and mythology. I spoke with Katherine Kremnitzer for this story, however she no longer works at the Art Institute of Chicago where the exhibition mentioned in the story was held. The exhibition Manet and Modern Beauty released a catalogue, which is a great source for more information.
This episode tells the story of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and how long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS epidemic have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. Harry Breaux and Vince Crisostomo, and Dr. Brett Stockdill were featured in this story. If you are interested in learning more about Harry Breaux's story, he was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle's Last Man Standing series on long-term survivors of HIV. To learn more about the program Crisotomo runs for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, click here. Brett Stockdill's book is "Activism Against AIDS: At the Intersections of Sexuality, Race, Gender, and Class." To read more about the struggles long-term survivors of HIV face, I recommend the column For The Long Run in A&U Magazine.