More than 100 guests filled RMIT Design Hub Gallery on 24 July 2025 for the opening of The Mourning After—a gathering that blended creativity, research, community and care. The evening was formally opened by Professor Tim Marshall, RMIT Deputy Vice-Chancellor Design and Social Context, and Chris Hall AM, CEO of Grief Australia, who spoke to grief not as an endpoint but as a catalyst for connection, renewal and shared understanding.

Drawing on themes from the opening remarks, The Mourning After invites visitors to consider grief as both intimate and collective: an evolving relationship carried in bodies, stories, and places. The exhibition shows how creative practice expands our language when words falter, and how public participation—through hands-on workshops in poetry, mapping, movement and more—is central rather than supplementary. Across First Nations perspectives, climate grief, and digital mourning, the works ask what new forms of care and meaning-making can emerge when we witness together.

The opening set the tone for an active program ahead. We invite you to spend time with the works, join a workshop, and let curiosity lead—towards memory, connection and the possibility of something new taking shape.

Video by Angie Pai.