Neural Remapping

2023, Video

This work explores the neuroscience of grief.

Mary O’Conner, neuroscientist, describes grief as a form of learning, our brain using the dimensions of time, space and closeness (here, now and close) to create neural maps, tracking our relationships. The maps are built up through lived experience. When we are separated from our loved ones, our brain uses these maps to predict where they are, and when we might see them again. When we lose a loved one, the virtual map in our brain no longer matches our new reality. The confusion that arises from the mismatch, causes us pain, our grief. Our brain is searching for them on the virtual map – it can’t comprehend that they are no longer on the map at all. The map can only be updated through lived experience – the grief process takes time. The longer and closer the relationship (both physically and emotionally), the bigger the map, and the more there is to update.

For the installation, the video work is accessed via a QR code and represents the lengthy, ongoing rebuilding of neural maps that is required after a significant loss. You can choose to view and sit with the work, or not. This is the silent part of grief which often goes unseen and that many people surrounding someone grieving find difficult to engage with.