Yollande Posthumus

Death became a part of my psyche at a young age.

 I used to wake up and wonder whether today would be the day that I would die? Perhaps it had something to do with carrying the Posthumus name, perhaps because I grew up in a family where the women folk talked to spirits. It has never been morbid, just an understanding and respect that dying is an intrinsical part of living, not to be feared, but to be celebrated. 

My suitcase contains a mechanical flipbook titled 'Tempus Fugit'(Time Flies). The cards illustrate the circle of life and the speed at which life passes and ignites again. The illustrations are accompanied by a poem celebrating the seasons of our lives. 

The suitcase is lined with copies of my diaries while working as a death doula and also tucked in are a few memory box sculptures paying tribute to the memories of some of those I had the honour of accompanying on the last stretch of their final journeys.

My suitcase hopes to show that death isn't and ending, but a transformation, just where one journey ends and another begins, leaving us with a sense of wonder as we step into the unknown...