the death virgin project is growing

death virgin is Kristen Vermilyea's multidisciplinary art project offering diverse projects exploring mortality including a podcast (The Death Virgin Podcast), documentary film (Death Virgin), and services related to death and dying, including the Zurich Death Salon, Death Salon Workshops, and Death Doula services; all of which foster conversations about death and life through creativity and community engagement.

"Death is not the
opposite of life,
but a part of it."

― Haruki
Murakami

What happens when you hit mid-life and have never learned how to mourn? I'm 56 and have never lost anyone extremely close to me.* (Knocks wood.) This is incredibly rare.** This fact and its consequences occupy more and more of my thoughts daily, especially as those around me hit middle-age and more and more contemporaries and parents begin to die.

Spurred on by this devastating yet inevitable fact, I've become a bit obsessed with not only learning how to mourn but exploring the concept of mourning itself. So I'm throwing myself into an artistic and boundary-pushing journey, discovering along the way that it may be more than just my inexperience that’s keeping me from learning.***

*Yes, I’ve lost all my grandparents and several aunts and uncles. (We are not a close family.) I’ve thought a lot about how I define “super close” when it comes to people in my life and how that definition might be different when dealing with their deaths. Does it have to be an immediate family member? A blood relative? A best friend? Someone I see or talk to daily / often? I don’t know, but I’m thinking about it and will explore it in the film.

**By age 18, 90% of people have experienced the death of a very close friend or relative.

*** An old friend once said that Kristen’s lack of being able to internalize emotional things was akin to “Trying to experience love by making a rom-com”.

let's talk about death!

Join us for insightful discussions on death, life, and everything in between through our podcast.

podcast

death virgin substack

A place for updates on all things death salon, death salon workshops, and death virgin writing.

documentary film

Experience transformative storytelling through our documentary film that explores the complexities of death and dying.

A new podcast exploring how to prepare for the death of a loved one.

Hi, I'm Kristen. I've never lost a close loved one, and that terrifies me.

Join me as I tackle the universal experience of death with humor, honesty, and sincere introspection.

Through personal stories, interviews, and my journey to becoming a death doula, I'll explore how we mourn and how to prepare for life's final chapter.

This podcast is for anyone curious about life, loss, and finding laughter along the way.