The Grief Collection
Episodes
Episode 11: Sara Wright - Curiosity and the Artistry of Tending Grief: On the loss of her brother, listening and the resonance of witness
Sara shares the story of her younger brother Tommy's death from testicular cancer at 23, the exhibition Involuntary she created in its aftermath, her years as a hospice volunteer, her artist residency in the emergency department, and — more recently — grief following the death of her father. The conversation moves through death literacy, the power of witnessing, ecological grief, and how art can hold space for the hardest parts of being human.
Following the interview, psychologist Emma Keen joins Bianca to unpack the conversation — covering vulnerability, the importance of language around death and dying, and why grief needs to be witnessed.
Content note: this episode discusses hospice care, palliative care, death and dying.
Episode 9: Brock Kerslake - "You'll Never Walk Alone", Losing His Sister Britt
In this episode of From Experience: The Grief Collection, Bianca sits down with Brock Kerslake — primary school teacher, dad, husband, and former owner of the beloved Launceston walking tour business Taste Walk Talk — to talk about a loss that shaped his entire childhood.
Brock's older half-sister, Britt, died in 1985 at just 12 years old, after being hit by a car near her mum's home in Launceston. Brock was six. In this deeply moving conversation, he shares what it was like to grow up as the sibling of a child who died — the confusion of being a kid processing something enormous, the different ways his parents grieved, and how his family has kept Britt's memory alive for 40 years through cemetery visits, a school award in her name, and even a tattoo.
Brock also reflects on becoming a teacher at the very school Britt attended, what it's like talking to a new class of grade sixers about her every year, and the advice he'd give his six-year-old self.
Bianca is then joined by Caroline Thain, occupational therapist and clinical leader in youth mental health, to unpack the episode — covering how we learn to grieve from our families, the gendered stereotypes around men and crying, supporting adolescents through grief, and why anniversaries can catch us off guard no matter how much time has passed.
Content note: This episode discusses the death of a child. Please take care while listening, and come back to it another time if needed.