2021 MVA Thesis Projects 

Many of us are never ready for death.  Western culture associates death with finality and the macabre and most of us ignore the only reliable truth until a last, fearful chapter.  With hospitals and the medical field ill equipped to help us face death with equanimity and grace, there is a growing community of professionals and volunteers who advocate for conscious dying, dedicating their time to those facing the threshold. One of these volunteers is Blessing, a death midwife, exquisite singer and proponent for conscious dying.  Using a biographical lens, The Last Lullaby is an intensive account of her lived experience chaperoning a group of Californians grappling with their own hopes and fears.  The somnolent design and songful incantations demarcate a calm oasis in the chaos of death, a space in our imaginations to envision our ends, make plain our wishes with our loved ones, and converse more openly about death and dying.  Could we all live a better life by squarely facing the inevitable fact of our own death?  

 

Running time: 30 minutes