In both prose and graphic non-fictional narratives of grief and mourning, loss and its aftermath are often signposted in and through potently visual moments and scenes built from image-memories. Common ones across the sub-genre might include the sight of a dying, or dead, body; the hospital, or hospice room; the burial scene; and/or the first glimpse of a shared home without a beloved other. In some cases, the glaring absence of such pictures—a missed sight or missed sights—is what haunts a griever, or community of grievers, and shapes the story. In this talk, Tahneer Oksman will use such moments to attend to what graphic narratives focused on grieving experiences can teach us, especially about the connective potential of individual and communal experiences of loss.
