Abstract
This article discusses private, informal memorialisation practices that mark scenes and sites of death in public spaces and places. It focuses on changing practices of public visibilities of death and grief – practices that render visible in a semiotic way what would otherwise be invisible or relatively unknown occurrences of death. It argues that roadside memorials and other types of informal public memorials bring to consciousness and signification spaces and places that might otherwise be perceived as death neutral or untouched by death.
Highlights
Unpredictable encounters with roadside memorials, or memorial decorations from the living world, like toys, photographs, or personal items, may function as catalysts in revealing the ever‐present powers of death and turning the space of ordinary life upside down by exposing its temporariness and fragility.[1]
The modern subject of affluent, safe social and political geographies is shielded from real life death scenes such that death by heart attack in a shopping mall or supermarket is a disturbance of the social order and the everyday backgrounding of mortality consciousness
By marking the landscape with signs of death and grief, roadside memorials and other types of informal public memorials bring to consciousness and signification spaces and places that might otherwise be perceived as death neutral or untouched by death
Summary
Unpredictable encounters with roadside memorials, or memorial decorations from the living world, like toys, photographs, or personal items, may function as catalysts in revealing the ever‐present powers of death and turning the space of ordinary life upside down by exposing its temporariness and fragility.[1]. This essay discusses private, informal memorialisation practices that mark scenes and sites of death in public spaces and places.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
