Art in Grief explores how art can help people cope with their situation after profound change or loss.
In loss, adversity and grief, you often lose connection with yourself, the world, and others. Loss can bring anxiety, sadness and a sense of loneliness, and it can also unsettle the sense that the world still holds a place for us. By recognizing such effects of profound change as grief, a different perspective on these feelings is opened up.
Reconnecting with ourselves, with others, with the world, can help us regain a grip on our situation and begin to see direction again. Interacting with works of art can help restore and strengthen that connection. When one experiences loss, one often fails to see the wealth of possibilities the world has to offer. Art can expand one’s openness for those possibilities and move people forward.
Art in Grief is a collaboration between writer, coach and actress Geerteke van Lierop and the founders of RAAAF, Prix de Rome winning artist Ronald Rietveld and Socrates professor of Philosophy Erik Rietveld.
The Art in Grief project includes interviews, lectures on the importance of art in loss and grief, an audio tour of some of the artworks by RAAAF | Atelier de Lyon, written and voiced by Geerteke, a short film based on her book Sea of Glass, and the documentary Landscapes of Resilience.
In 2023, we did a research trip to Japan, which led to a new series of interviews and lectures in Tokyo, Okinawa (OIST) and the tsunami-hit area of Iwate, among other places. We were supported by journalist Kotaro Hirose and our local project assistant Yoshimasa Nakamura. In 2025, we returned to Japan to give Art in Grief lectures in Kyoto and at the universities of Hokkaido, Sapporo and Kobe. We also conducted interviews and recordings for our documentary Landscapes of Resilience. We strengthened the team with editor Lucas van Woerkum and our wonderful Art in Grief project assistants Aros Salah and psychologist Marina Pascual Pujó. Art in Grief has also been presented at the Department of Psychiatry of the Amsterdam Medical Center and at the universities of Oslo, Groningen, Amsterdam and UC Berkeley. In 2026 we will present our work at the University of Stirling, Scotland, the Amsterdam University Medical Center and at several places in Japan again.
“In Art in Grief, van Lierop beautifully presents and narrates how people navigate profound loss, filling a significant gap in our cultural conversation.” – Katsunori Miyahara, Associate Professor, Hokkaido University.
Still from documentary Landscapes of Resilience
