Over the next several weeks, we are excited to feature the artwork alongside excerpts of the stories from the thirteen families that participated in our 2021 Give Grief a Voice cohort.
The Give Grief a Voice project provides families who have lost a young child an artistic representation of their child’s life. A professional writer interviews the child’s family in order to ghostwrite the child’s story. Then, a commissioned artist turns the words of the story into a piece of art that the family keeps.
Buzzy’s Bees fundraises to cover all costs for writing and art – there is no charge to participating families. Both the writers and artists are paid per story.
If you have suddenly or unexpectedly lost a young child (stillbirth – 12yo) and are interested in participating, please fill out an application here. If you are a writer or artist interested in being a part of the program, contact Kelly Tilford at kelly@buzzysbees.com. You can donate to the project here and see photos from the event we hosted for the families here.
Artist: Lea K. Tawd
Acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 18 inches
“I see my son and daughter in the pages of a children’s book called Maybe: A Story About the Endless Potential in All of Us. My daughter’s Chinese zodiac is a rooster and Miles’ is a pig. In the story, a little girl makes herself a rooster-like hat made of leaves and she makes a pair of wings for the pig. On the last page, the pig flies away chasing a golden butterfly. That’s the image for me. Miles, flying, chasing a butterfly, and my daughter, still on earth, proudly watching.”
– Miles’ mom
