Multispecies Archaeology I / Multispecies Mourning

[...] What counts as a livable life and a grievable death? (Butler 2004) For this project, I collected bones of non-human animals my partner had eaten. I calcined them at 1000 degrees Celsius, turning them into bone ash. Then, I used the ash to form a porcelain urn. There are people who are in relationships of complicity to, for example, the meat industry, by their demand for goods that are produced under certain exploitative conditions. How can coexistence and the relationship between people with different concepts of action (for example, those who reject products of animal origin, and those who consume them on the other hand) be possible or designed in a dialectic-affective way? I am exploring these questions by looking at my own relationships, engaging—inaudible—dialogues with my partner, the animals’ remains and others involved. The main part consists of the collection of bones that are connected with my partners consumption of animal-products, establishing this as a ritual/habit and thinking about politics of mourning and remembering—grievability in the context of human-animal relations. This self-reflective research process is materialised through a porcelain urn, raising questions of usability (using others and the suffering of being useful) and framing the process aesthetically.