What if talking about death could begin with curiosity, rather than fear?
“Dear Death” is an interactive experience that invites you to think, talk, and reflect on death, before you are forced to confront it.
Come as you are, stay as long as you like. Inside, you'll find a series of prompts, drawings, and open conversations that explore the space between living and dying. You might sit with a question on your own, sketch a response, write something down, or talk it through with whoever is next to you. Some activities lean toward pre-planning and practical wishes, others toward memory, relationships, and what you might want to leave behind. There is no right way to take part, and no pressure to share more than you want to.
Rather than presenting death as something distant or frightening, Dear Death creates a gentle space to approach it with curiosity, honesty, and even tenderness. It’s an opportunity to have conversations we don’t often make time for and perhaps discover that talking about death can also tell us something about how we want to live.
“After fainting unexpectedly at my grandfather’s funeral, I became afraid to ask the questions that had once made me curious. Dear Death was started as a project to confront my own fear of death, but through conversations with others, I discovered that many of us carry our own anxieties around death” - Chloe Ong
“Dear Death” was developed with the belief that design can do more than communicate information. It can create the conditions for difficult conversations to begin. The conversations that grow from this project will continue to shape it, inspiring personal letters written to Death itself, personified as a confidant carrying the stories, revelations, and reflections shared by those with the courage to connect.
Background:
Chloe Ong – Creator of “Dear Death” is a Singaporean communication designer and Social Media Creative at Publicis Groupe Singapore. This project won a Merit Award-winning at the 16th Hiiibrand International Brand & Communication Design Awards 2025.