GeoVanna Gonzalez | Without Goodbyes

“Without Goodbyes” is a research-based, interdisciplinary project that investigates Afro-Caribbean and Greek mourning rituals as cultural practices of resilience, preservation, and transformation. Grounded in both personal and collective experiences of loss, the project seeks to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue on the ways in which communities engage with grief, memory, and the sacred through embodied ritual practices.

While grief is a universal human experience, mourning—the symbolic, linguistic, and gestural expressions through which grief is navigated—is culturally constructed and shaped by historical, geographical, and spiritual frameworks. “Without Goodbyes: Part I” centers on the mourning traditions of the Caribbean diaspora, with a particular emphasis on Afro-Caribbean spiritual practices such as ‘espiritismo’ and ‘santería.’ These syncretic traditions, forged in the context of colonial violence and displacement, function not only as sacred practices but also as archives of cultural survival—sites of identity formation, healing, and community resilience. Through performance and moving image, the project examines ritual as a communicative form that articulates what often remains beyond language, creating space for the affective and spiritual dimensions of grief.

During her residency at Onassis AiR, Gonzalez will explore the resonances and divergences between Afro-Caribbean and Greek mourning traditions, focusing on the transmission, adaptation, and persistence of these practices across diasporic contexts. Greek mourning customs—such as laments, commemorative gatherings, and ritual garments—offer a comparative framework for examining how different cultural practices ritualize loss, honor ancestors, and negotiate the intersections of gender, spirituality, and memory.

A central objective of this research is to examine the embodied dimensions of mourning: how the body serves as a vessel for memory and affect, and how material culture—such as ritual garments, altars, and performative gestures—carries emotional and spiritual significance. By tracing the ways these embodied practices facilitate connection across temporal and spatial divides, the project considers how rituals serve as a medium through which diasporic communities maintain cultural continuity and intergenerational dialogue.