Kaneza Schaal

is a New York City-based artist who works in theater, opera, and film.

My father died in Burundi. Everyone brought their own version of him to the funeral. At the burial ceremony, as part of a ritualized grieving process, I was struck by the continuum of processing and performing death, and the intimacy between Black people and death around the world.
The deceased travels in a solar bark across the sky and is reborn each morning with the sun. He sings into a clay pot. Like Orpheus, his song raises the sun. Photo: Maria Hassabi

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