The small space is a place to process death and grief

To get to the Madison Death Studio, you’ll pass by vintage paperbacks, carved marionettes, and other eclectic studios and shops within the artists’ enclave at 2716 Atwood Ave, nestled between The Victory cafe and the Ritual Barbell Gym.

It’s a community that’s welcomed Meghan Allynn Johnson [BFA ’11], a Madison native who formerly ran a gallery in New York City, and her new studio, which opened July 1. She describes her new studio as an “experimental art space” and a “walk-in resource hub” for those grappling with our final fate.

Inside, display cases offer scores of sympathy cards, candles, altar animals and tarot decks. Books and zines line one wall, with titles like Obitchuary: The Big Hot Book of Death, Death Nesting: The Heart-Centered Practices of a Death Doula, and Grieve On: A Little Book of Truths about Grief.

In the center of the room sits a large table with orange metal stools. There’s warm lighting, relaxing music playing, and Johnson offers me sparkling water. The environment is loosening us up for something that’s sometimes hard to do: talk about death.

Johnson is an artist, and has training in death midwifery, but she prefers a different term — “death worker” — that describes her desire to shift the cultural conversation around dying and grief.

“I think we all think we’re doing it wrong, and that’s why we carry so much shame around grief,” she says.

The studio is opening up softly, with limited hours: Wednesdays from 4-7 p.m. or by appointment. She expects three main audiences: death workers looking for community and resources, people who are simply curious, and people actively in need of support — like those who are caregiving, grieving, or are themselves dying.

“There are going to be some people who don’t want to think about death at all, and they’re not ready to have that conversation,” Johnson concedes. “And then I think there are people that really do, and they just need someone to open that door.”

Johnson’s family was one that didn’t usually talk about death, and when they did, it was “uncomfortable.” Johnson says she feels that she’s breaking a “generational pattern” by being explicit.