Circle of Memory

I went to an exhibiton in Norway a week ago that truly touched me at a personal level. The exhibiton is called Circle of Memory, created by Eleanor Coppola. To put it briefly the exhibiton was created as a consequence of her son's early death as a 22 year old. Several years later she attends a memorial ceremony in Ireland which inspired her to create Circle of Memory.
This is my experience of it:

 

The exhibiton was set up at a barn and as I enter, there is a three meter high wall of hay surrounding me. At that point I did not actually knew what I was going to see, and did not either know of the background for the exhibiton. My first thought was that it's not that extraordinary to set up high walls of hay.. in a barn..

 

Then I see this monitor standing at the very entrance. It is written:

"Messages left in the straw at Circle of Memory installations - Oakland, San Diego (...)"

This makes me more curious.

 

I'm turning left and walks further into the room. It is all quiet. No sound effects or music playing. Only the sound of footsteps walking across wooden floor.

 I see a women bending over something. She is writing on a small piece of paper.
After a few seconds she gets up, walk towards the wall and fasten the note in the hay.

 

When I get closer I see numerous of notes in the wall.

Each one is telling a message. A message containing lovely words to those who have past away.

 

I spot an entrance, being even more curious as I have no idea what this path would lead me to. The further I get in, the further the darkness encircles me.

I enter a cylinder shaped room covered in total darkness, except for one little spot in the centre. There is continously a small amount of white sand pouring from the ceiling.
Along with the darkness I am being surrounded by calm, soft voices telling their memories of those they have lost. You can't really hear what they are saying, but you still get the feeling of being part of their memories. At the same time, you are able to sit down and memorise yourself.

 I wish I could have stayed inside for much longer, but since I am allergic to hay I had to leave after only a few minutes.

I wrote down my own memory, a message to my grandmother who past away two years ago, stuck it in to the wall of hay and left with a great, peaceful feeling.

Thank you for creating this exhibiton, Eleanor Coppola.