Posy-Filled Pockets

A year ago today, Posies lost our very talented project artist and frequent content contributor, Damien Baranowski.

Damien was very invested in the project and contributed not only our urn logo, but designed our business cards, many flyers, and buttons that we sometimes handed out at shows. He also contributed many gorgeous cemetery photos and a handful of essays based on his personal experience and relationship with death.

His contributions lent heavily to our overall esthetic and his passionate investment in what we were doing was a driving force that sometimes single handedly powered us through times when Tim and Rachel became overwhelmed with other responsibilities and had to set things down-Damien always pressed us to pick it back up, because he felt it was so important.

Damien’s interest in the positive death movement was, like many of us, germinated in a childhood trauma involving the death of a loved one, and it’s fair to say that that same trauma laid the path to his premature exit. This is why this work is so important to us, and so vital to our current culture-the stigma surrounding talking about death and dying should never lend to death itself.

We did not announce Damien’s passing when it happened because It was simply overwhelming at the time. Rachel had the deep privilege of being with him in his last moments, and along with Tim’s remote guidance, was honored to bring him into her care as his funeral counselor to perform all of the final required steps. This was obviously a difficult task, and once it was done, quiet reflection was necessary for self care.

A few weeks ago, while going through some old files, a folder with Damien’s name on it was dug out, and in it was a large pile of unfinished sketches he had been working on for the project. We’re sharing them here on this first anniversary of our profound loss to honor the work he did for us and the time he dedicated to this labor of love.

Godspeed, Damien. May the weight you carried in life be ever forgotten, and your wings well rested.