Fashion for Funerals

Putting the FUN into Funerals 2015

Fashion for Funerals – Putting the FUN into Funerals was a headline act that played to full houses and achieved audience acclaim at the Nati Frinj Biennale in 2015.

It’s a multi-media theatrical fashion parade about a touchy subject made accessible through historical representation, artistic interpretation and sensitive humour.

The show was born of her mother’s death from cancer. Part of the initial planning in 2015 included discussions with the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute in Ballarat with the aim of raising money for cancer research. A confronting concept, Kat is mindful of the potential that the title has to offend by mentioning ‘fun’ in context with the grief stricken experience that funerals can be. To this end, she consulted with a community educator on death and dying who feels that the show is an innovative tool to create community awareness of death, grieving, funerals and associated issues; and that respectful humour plays a big part in the education process, and indeed the actual funeral itself.

The project was made possible through a grant from the Regional Arts Fund administered by Regional Arts Victoria.