“Generating Condolences: Coding Grief During Covid-19” presented by Ahrndt

There is a long-standing expectation for feminine sentimentality in Western culture. Women have been the family historians and curators, saving objects and images to later be passed down as the family archive. This expectation extends into cultural practices surrounding mourning and death. Often in times of mourning women are the primary archivists and creators of memorial and sentimental objects for the family after the death of a loved one. In this paper I try to reconcile the traditional role of mourning ritual – language and iconography with generative computing art making in the time of Covid-19.