Chagrin:
Field Notes on Grief
Date /
2024 - ongoing
Screening Locations /
Walk the Block, Wa Na Wari, Seattle - September 28th, 2024
Part 1 of 9
Cha·grin: from the French word for ‘grief’ or ‘sorrow’; a feeling of being vexed, disappointed, or annoyed, especially because of a perceived failure or mistake.
There is poetic irony in acknowledging that grief is a living thing. That something born of death and finality can take root, bloom, and bear such a variety of fruit. It is almost unfathomable that so many eventualities can stem from the same seed, with nature and nurture both factoring into how we tend our emotional gardens and navigate this process.
Grief is perennial – it is enduring, constantly evolving, and the parts of us that survive will inevitably grow into something else. This series of 9 videos and accompanying personal reflections aim to make space for and unpack manifestations of grief experienced by our communities.
The choice to make 9 videos is highly intentional. Numerologically, the number 9 is connected with notions of death, lifecycles and mourning, with a number of religions and spiritual practices across cultures adopting it into the rituals observed for those who have passed on. In Orthodox Christianity, the 9th night after death is when the deceased's soul is said to be judged accordingly for their earthly deeds; the 'nine-nights' traditionally observed for a wake have origins in West Africa, and have been embraced and adapted by diasporic populations in many Caribbean islands; in Yoruba practices, the orisha Oyá's number 9, and she holds dominion over departed ancestors, or egun; and the Hindu Goddess Kali, often seen as the counterpart to Oyá, is associated with the passage of time and death, as well as empowerment and the forces of Mother Nature.
Each of these deities, rituals and cultural practices have their place in the spectrum of grieving. The following videos, zines and writings will chart the non-linear yet interconnected paths we take as we move through grief, and as grief in turn moves through us. Whether they take the shape of honouring the memory of a person or place; discovering the multi-sensorial triggers that soothe or exacerbate loss; reckoning with unresolved contentions; or expanding our definitions of ‘ritual’ when it comes to mourning; Cousoumeh Collective offers the participants and audience a space to grapple with tangible and intangible aspects of grief in its myriad of forms, through the cathartic and communal act of cooking.
Special thanks to Kewan Thomas for shooting and editing this video
Special thanks to
Roannta Dalrymple, Blaire Santos and Portia Subran
for their contributions to this zine
Design and layout by Khalil of The Egokillas
About Roannta Dalrymple:
Roannta Dalrymple is an international education specialist with ten years experience in international education management. She has served as Mobility Coordinator at The University of West Indies and On-Site Director at the Trinity in Trinidad Global Learning Site. Roannta has an undergraduate degree in Caribbean Sociology as well as an MSc. in Mediation Studies and is currently Director of Student Services at the Caribbean Student Support Network.
About Blaire Santos:
Blaire Santos is an aspiring Belizean writer whose works often feature themes of indigenous issues, loss and folklore. She grew up in Belmopan when it was still called Bush-Mopan, on a dirt road beside the jungle. She lived in Belize City for six years to attend high school and junior college, eventually earning an associate’s degree in Literature and History in 2012. Currently, she is a final year student reading for a bachelor’s degree in Literatures in English with a minor in Creative Writing at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.
About Portia Subran:
Portia Subran is an ink artist and short story writer of Chaguanas, Trinidad & Tobago. With bottles of India ink, sable brushes and dip pens, Subran translates the Caribbean’s colourful, and verdant landscape into a monochrome domain of secrets, desires and regrets. Her works are living pieces - reinterpretations of human relationships with nature, and follows a mostly stoic, feminine narrative. Her inkwork feeds into her poetry, the verses weave a story that reach a conclusion by the black strokes across the page.
Her ink portrait, Glorious Robusta, was featured in the 2022 exhibition “A Most Resilient Nature” curated by Adeline Gregoire. Her short story response to the work of Eddie Bowen was published in the 2023 anthology Black Light Void: Dark Visions of the Caribbean.
Subran has received a few literary awards including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Caribbean Region (2024), The Cecile de Jongh Literary Prize (2019) and the Small Axe Literary Competition for Short Fiction (2016). Her artwork and fiction have been published in Arc Magazine, the Journal of West Indian Literature, Pree Lit Magazine and Granta.