Loss is a persistent theme across many socially engaged research and design domains. The loss of housing. The loss of water. The loss of trees. The loss of life. Much of that loss is documented through data. Through an ongoing research-through-design project, we ask, How can we express loss in ways that alter our perspectives, expanding both our affective engagements and design repertoires? In this pictorial, we explore aesthetic strategies of representing loss that leverage spookiness. Informed by prior work on spookiness and related themes, we present five projects, each expressing loss through different media and visual formats. From reflection on these works, we derive a set of themes on representing loss, which can inform and inspire other designers looking to engage and express loss in more poetic ways.
Ghost Trees ATL is a collection of interactive maps and generated photos that depict the changing population of deceased trees of Atlanta's beloved canopy.
