Spoken
Unspoken
stories of the living and dying
Death isn’t easy to talk about.
But neither is life.
At the end of your life, what will you wish you had said?
Spoken/Unspoken was a sound installation & collaboration with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History that featured intimate stories from our patients. We met with people nearing the end of their lives and listened to their stories. We learned what matters most to them.
These patients reflected on their lives and what they wished they could have said to friends and loved ones. Then, composer and sound artist Lanier Sammons wove their words into a symphony of stories.
Sometimes in the realm of speaking the unspoken, the wisdom of life emerges. In this way, dying is part of the journey we call life.
“Live your life the best you can with what you have”
BILL’S STORY
“Time goes by so quickly, it’s just unimaginable”
BOB’S STORY
“Perhaps you’re seeing your true self reflected in me”
CRAIG’S STORY
“I enjoy every day for whatever it is”
EDWARD’S STORY
“You have to learn to forgive and let it go”
ELVIRA’S STORY
“Eso es lo que me duele más, pensar en todo y no poder hacerlo”
JESUS’ STORY
“I wish we could have gotten things straightened out between the two of us”
JOAN’S STORY
“…The things I could have said”
LEIGH’S STORY
“Now that I’m dying, people love me much more than I ever thought”
LORRAINE’S STORY
“My main reason for being on earth is to make people laugh”
RAY’S STORY
“Work hard and just hope that God will let you live a long life”
ROBERT’S STORY
“I have enjoyed living like no one has ever enjoyed living”
RON’S STORY
“Don’t wait till the end of life to be peaceful, chill & groovy”
TANA’S STORY
The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) started as a merger between two organizations–the Santa Cruz Historical Society (founded in 1954) and the Art Museum of Santa Cruz County (founded in 1981). Today, the MAH contains over 8,000 square feet of exhibition/gallery space and 2,750 square feet for collections/archives. The museum also maintains a research library, archive, and a curatorial collection. The art collection (300 objects) mainly contains contemporary sculpture, paintings and prints of California/greater Monterey Bay area artists. The history collection has over 7,000 items. Most are from the early 1900’s with significance to the history of Santa Cruz County.
