“Rites of Passage: Death”

In the first episode of his series on rites of passage, English artist Grayson Perry creates rituals to commemorate the life of Jordan Seddon – a 17-year-old boy killed by a drunk driver – and officiates a celebration of life for Roch Maher, a man dying of motor neurone disease.

A powerful, moving argument for the role of artists in devising and facilitating new ceremonies in secular societies, wherein the vacuum left by institutional religions is otherwise too easily filled by rote custom or commercial interests.

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