Artist Ashley Ortiz-Diaz looking at Pioneer grave stones

Residents make rubbings of local graves

Artists on a tour of the Beechwood Cemetery

A look at death in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada

A look inside a mausoleum

Artist Sharron Stevens tries on a casket at the Pike Vessels workshop

Ayatana residents document birds killed in collisions with buildings

Ayatana residents look into a fresh grave

Ayatana residents visit a taxidermy studio

Art historian Stephanie Williams explains Memento Mori in art history

Ayatana residents explore the archives of the Museum of Nature

Artist Erin Williamson listens to the inside of a whale ear bone

Residents explore the vault at the War Museum's archives

Mortem: For artists to study death
10 classes from November 10 - 21, 2025
Accepting late applications

Mortem is a 10 day online death school for artists to pursue our curiosity of death and to explore and develop our identities as a death-curious artists. The virtual residency will involve daily live video lectures with international death care and funeral industry workers, historians, biologists and artists on a range of death related topics and several short one on one meetings with artists who make art about death around the world. Built in to the 2- 2.5 hours of daily programming are discussions, recommended assignments and show and tell. The program is designed to give insight into death knowledge and ritual from a wide range of perspectives.

Biophilium death residencies facilitate talk about death. It is not grief therapy and won't ask you to dwell on pain from your past, although it will be an opportunity to share past experiences in a death positive context and most likely will be therapeutic. It will help you identify as an artist who works with themes of death and give you tools to talk about your work and to get involved with non-art professionals who also work with death.

Biophilium residencies focus on experience and research by visual and conceptual artists. Artists, writers, poets, musicians and dancers are invited to apply. No previous experience related to death is necessary but a portfolio showing your creative practice is required to apply.  You can see the artists who will be participating as they confirm here (scroll down to Mortem). You can see Mortem alumni here.

Death and Art:

Residents are invited to give a private artist talk to share your work with the group.

Beautiful Death: The Art and Mystery of Mortality with the director of the Museum of Morbid Anatomy Johanna Ebinstein

Wild Death and Feral Women with Prof. of Death and Photography Ashlee Czajkowski of the University of Arizona

Encounters Between the Dead and the Living: Decoding the imagery on grave stones with Harvard University

Sensing the Supernatural: Relic Veneration with Dr. Jamie Brummit from the University of North Carolina 

Working with Wild Bones: Skeletal articulation with the Canadian Museum of Nature

Death and Mourning Ritual in Contemporary Art with the director of the Biophilum

Death Care & Body Disposition:

Standard burial and cremation processes: a talk with a funeral director

Green burial activism with the Green Burial Council

Human composting

Memorials for the More-Than-Human with artist and pet death care worker Alyssa Ellis

Presentation of the history of death rituals around the world

DIY Home Funerals: a chat with a death wife

Guided Radical Mortality Acceptance Meditation

Cost:
$600 USD
Official invitations will be given to accepted applicants to help support grant and funding applications.

We are flexible and forgiving with application formats and deadlines.