A conscious goodbye : overcoming the topic of death

• Main Author: Ong, Debbie Suet Gee
• Other Authors: Ng Ee Ching Candice
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Visual arts and music::Visual arts
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140655
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Death is a natural part of life, and perhaps the most unpredictable and uncontrollable thing. However, due to several cultural stigmas that have categorised death as a taboo topic, death conversations are stopped before it even begins. When conclusively, we can only be talking about death if we are living. The consequences of avoiding this topic have created emotional burdens and difficulties for family members and friend(s) during the end-of-life journeys of their loved ones, this includes uncertainty, stress, anxiety and regrets. The Ministry of Health has also been encouraging Singaporeans to start talking about end-of-life issues earlier while they are still living healthily. Surveys are conducted with 42 people between the ages of 17-36 years old, shows that young adults are open to the topic of death but are unsure what to do about it. This project aims to provide a platform and encourage young adults to begin conversing about the topic of death and enable them to consider its implications on life. Through the use of a hypothetical scenario in a card game, a book and a website, this project intends to create a conducive and meaningful platform to discuss the topic of life and death while encouraging end-of-life and advanced care decisions made as soon as possible.