Hannah Radcliffe’s zine F is for Funeral aims to inform British audiences of the rituals other cultures have developed to deal with the death of a loved one. Stemming from her interest in the concept of ‘spirituality’ and how rituals are often used to express it, Radcliffe asks us to question whether our stereotypically fearful and ‘stiff upper lip’ style approach to funerals might be improved.
An important source of inspiration for this project was Grayson Perry’s suggestion that “all rituals came from somewhere, they didn’t just come out of the ether from God!”. Radcliffe urges us to reflect on and choose the ways we deal with and mark important events in our lives without simply accepting or rejecting the rituals traditional to our society.
Although rooted in human experience, Radcliff emphasizes the humour in her work “I want my work to be playful. Humour is an important tool that can help root overwhelming topics in reality”. Her work is often interactive or immersive and she has a particular interest in street art, developing, ‘Hunt for Gef’ an Isle of Man street art trail inspired by the Manx folklore story ‘Gef the talking mongoose’.
Radcliffe is currently completing an internship as a content creator for the Sheffield-based ‘Loro Crisps’. creating plantain-themed illustrations and animations.