A mobile museum of grief housed inside a vintage caravan.

Journey with Absent Friends is an installation inside of a vintage caravan. It is a mobile museum, with artworks hidden in every cupboard, drawer, nook and cranny. It collects stories from the public on its travels, about people we have loved and lost and where their memory lives.

The caravan is free, drop in and open to people of all ages. But does contain sensitive subject matter.

The caravan is Part 6 of The Grief Series, which is a body of work by artist Ellie Harrison. Using a seven stage Grief Model from psychology as a starting point, each instalment is a collaboration with another artist working in a different field including performance, photography, installation and sculpture. Find out more about the journey HERE

Ellie’s work uses playful strategies to engage people and change the narrative around grief. The Grief
Series specialise in creating art with the conceptual rigour of visual art but the warmth of community art. Ellie has been making this body of work for 10 years and is the research leader in making art about death. The work is born out of personal story but has touched over 30,000 people.

What can audiences expect?
Members of the public are invited to explore at your own pace, alone or with company. We invite you to add your own memories to their audio archive and embroidered maps. Fill out a recipe card and open any draw you fancy – the caravan rewards the curious.
Outside the caravan there are suitcases to explore of ‘emotional baggage’, our mobile micro grief library
and a giant connect four. There are tissues and experienced facilitators on hand to guide the audience experience or just chat about the weather.
Pop your head in for 30 seconds or spend time discovering the treasure for 2 hours.

Want to see more in advance?
If you would like to familiarise yourself with the caravan installation in advance – the Grief Series Team have created a 360 tour which can be found HERE