They enter two by two. Grannies, mainly. Headscarved, mainly. Some locking arms. A bit glum. Like rejects from Noah’s ark. Passing through two vertical beams of light, they appear then disappear, shuffling into the darkness. From concrete caves, they begin to wail for the dead.
We’re witnessing Artangel’s latest extraordinary commission, ‘An Occupation of Loss’, by Taryn Simon. The piece draws together professional mourners from all corners of the earth — China, Armenia, Ghana, Ecuador — and deposits them under a block of flats in Islington High Street.
The Azerbaijanis wallop their thighs as they wail. The Venezuelans sob behind full face veils, the fabric vibrating in sympathy. Some pace in circles, nervously fingering bits of cloth. Some grieve only for women — no men allowed. The shrunken Albanian lady, her vocal cords reduced to gravel, just sits and talks, deep in conversation with the afterlife. Unnerving, bewitching, fascinating.
Most fascinating was how unmoving it all was.
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