Grief remains one of society's most sensitive topics. In certain cultures the subject is still very much taboo and for some individuals they prefer to deal with the process internally. The reality is grief is an unavoidable process for almost all of us. It’s a raw human experience that gives our divided world some common ground. That’s why we should talk about it more, and with Projecting Grief, one photographer is helping us do that.

One day, as I meandered through the streets with my camera, I stumbled upon a pop-up photography gallery. Curious to see what was on display, I entered the space and was instantly moved by what I saw.

Projecting Grief is an ongoing series created by the photographer Jo Ritchie. The work explores how individuals use creativity to manage the grief that comes with losing someone close to them.

It’s a joint effort, as Ritchie collaborates with the talented writer, Laura McDonagh. Her words give further context to Ritchie’s powerful portraits, and together they have created a body of work that will move and inspire you.

The series will no doubt encourage you to think about your own relationship with grief. It will also highlight some useful coping mechanisms that may help you navigate one of our most challenging journey’s.

Ritchie very kindly took some time to speak to Them Frames and shared more details about Projecting Grief.

Them Frames: What inspired you to create this project?

Jo Ritchie: The project started after my brother Jack died by suicide in 2017. I found it really difficult to imagine being creative again and going back to doing a creative job. I spoke to a number of different people at the time who either used a creative practice as a direct outlet or simply as a distraction from grief.

I found this inspiring and hopeful in the early days of grief and started taking peoples portraits. Writer Laura McDonagh joined the project in 2022, after losing her mum quite suddenly, to provide the context of people’s stories to sit alongside their portraits.

Them Frames: What is your approach to finding people to participate in the project?

Jo Ritchie: We started with people we knew or friends of friends. Once we had a few stories online, it grew quite naturally from there. It’s probably about 50/50 now with us reaching out to people who are doing something quite publicly with grief and creativity. People also contact us wanting to get involved. We’ve still got a long list of people all over the country ready to get involved, we just need the time and funding to make it happen.

Them Frames: Please can you share more on your personal experience with grief and how being creative supported you during the process?

Jo Ritchie: The project has come full circle for me and has become a really useful tool for my grief. I find photographing people who have also lost someone means I have a lot of conversations where I talk about Jack. I am regularly facing my own grief and confronting difficult situations.

I think this has been really useful for me to not be able to just push it to the back of my head and pretend I’m fine all the time! There is comfort in sharing stories and working together, creating community. The project has become a real lifeline.

Them Frames: Is there one particular story that really sticks with you? Can you share why that may be?

Jo Ritchie: All the stories end up discussing really interesting things and bits of all of them stick with you for different reasons.

The original story is Millie’s and is very close to me as I knew both her dad, who died in 2014 and her brother, who died in 2019. She speaks about using crochet after Perry (her dad) died. It was counting, it was methodical, it was the distraction her brain needed at the time.

She then talks about making headdresses for her brother Ethan’s funeral. She sold some of them at festivals not long after and talks about how symbolic for her it was to see some part of Ethan still dancing away in a field.

Them Frames: What is the end goal for Projecting Grief?

Jo Ritchie: As part of our exhibition with Leeds International Festival of Ideas, we are running workshops so people can come and get involved in a creative activity they either might not normally do or that allows them to open up about their grief.

We would love to facilitate more things like this. Providing a space for people to be creative, to talk or just feel comfortable making and doing in a space together with people who understand.

We would also love to make a book somewhere down the line, maybe when we get to 50 or 100 sitters.

Them Frames: How can people support the project?

Jo Ritchie: You can support the project by following us on socials, signing up to our mailing list and sharing what we do. You can also donate via our Kofi.

Producing all the work to date has been totally self-funded so every little helps to pay for the petrol to get me to the next shoot to cover the costs of our website.