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: Vanessa Smith
Acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 24 inches
“Kennedie and I have a very close bond, it helped me get through so much. I don’t talk about losing Kennedie with my other three kids. Sometimes we get in the car and go for a drive together. That’s how we process our feelings – we drive and we listen to a CD of songs from her funeral. They are all songs that remind us of her. The tracks include Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker and I Believe In You by Don Williams. The last song on the disc is Heaven by Beyoncé and by the time we get to that track we are all losing it. One of us starts sniffling and then we all start crying.”
– Kennedie’s mom
