Making Our Way Into 2026
As 2026 continues to unfold, we’ve already seen so many moments of community, conversation, and connection move through the funeral home.
From gatherings centred around art and death literacy, to families exploring new approaches to after death care, to the quiet everyday moments of supporting people through loss, this year has already carried a strong sense of openness and curiosity around how we engage with death and dying.
Here are a few things that have been happening around Life Rites so far this year.
Queer Powerpoint - Sydney Festival
As part of the 2026 Sydney Festival program, Death by Powerpoint at Life Rites became something quite special.
Over the course of the event, we saw a real swelling of community move through the funeral home. People gathering, sitting, listening, and engaging with death in a different form. Not in crisis or immediacy, but through art, curiosity, and shared conversation.
A big thank you to our artists in residence, Christine, Imbi, Andrew, and Liz, and to Harriet and Victoria for their PowerPoint presentations.
Together, they opened up a diverse and thought-provoking range of topics. From art history and death, to human composting, the spectacle of death, living for eternity and AI, and even the sounds of the funeral home itself.
What unfolded across the event was not just a series of presentations. It was a gentle but powerful expansion of what a funeral home can be. A space not only for grief and farewell, but for learning, questioning, and creative engagement with death and dying.
It was meaningful to see our space used in this way. Holding art, community, and conversation side by side, and continuing to build death literacy in a way that feels accessible, open, and alive.
Shrouded Cremation Update
As we move closer to the 12 month mark of shrouded cremation being available in NSW, we continue to see more families choosing this option.
Over that time, there have been some important developments. It feels like a quiet but steady shift, as this becomes a more recognised and accessible practice.
The shroud bearer we now source is made from Ecopine rather than MDF, offering a more considered and environmentally aligned material.
Metropolitan Memorial Parks are now offering shrouded cremations across all of their Sydney locations, including Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, Woronora Memorial Park, Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium, and Rookwood Crematorium.
They also now hold standing approval for shrouded cremation, meaning individual applications are no longer required each time. This is a significant step forward in making the process more seamless for families.
Within our own work, we’ve continued with our range of sustainably sourced, locally made shrouds. These include calico, seedy silk, and white linen, along with a growing selection of colours and patterns created through natural plant dyes. Recently, we supported a family with a bespoke Currawong shroud, made in honour of their father’s love of birdlife.
What we hear again and again from families is the experience of closeness. Of being able to see, touch, and be with the person who has died in a way that feels simple and human.
It’s a reminder that even small shifts in practice can open up something much larger in how we interact with and respond to death.
The Rise in Conversation Around Living Wakes
We’ve noticed a growing curiosity and media conversation around something often called a living wake.
So what is it?
A living wake is a gathering that takes place before someone dies, rather than after. It’s a chance for a person, often nearing the end of life, to bring together the people who matter to them and to share time, words, stories, and connection while they are still here to be part of it.
There’s no single way this looks.
For some, it might be a small and intimate afternoon at home. For others, a larger gathering with music, food, and a sense of celebration. Sometimes it includes expressions of gratitude, storytelling, or even the sharing of things that may have been left unsaid.
What sits at the heart of it is presence.
An opportunity to acknowledge that time is finite, and to meet that reality not only with grief, but also with connection, honesty, and even moments of lightness.
The invitation to such a gathering can sometimes feel confronting for guests. Not everyone will want this, and not every circumstance allows for it.
But for those who do choose it, a living wake can create a different kind of memory. One where the person is not spoken about, but spoken with. Where relationships are witnessed in real time, rather than remembered later.
As these conversations continue to open up, we’re seeing more people gently explore what it might mean to gather before death, not just after.
Life Rites have been involved in helping to organise many types of living wakes, and welcome further conversions with those looking to explore this option.
A recent Sydney Morning Herald article can be read here.
Welcome to Stelly and Andrea
We’re really pleased to welcome two new people into the Life Rites team, Andrea and Stelly.
They’ve both settled in with ease and are already beginning to find their rhythm within the work. Learning the many layers of what happens here, and stepping in to support across funerals and memorials with care and attentiveness.
Each of them brings something distinct. Their own presence, their own way of relating, and a shared willingness to meet people in moments that matter.
It’s always meaningful to see new people come into this space and begin to understand not just what we do, but how and why we do it.
We’re grateful to have them alongside us.
Movie Nights at the Fun Home are Back!
We’re kicking off movie nights at the funeral home again in 2026.
These evenings have always held something a little different. A chance to gather in our space outside of immediate need. To sit together, watch a story unfold, and engage with themes of death, dying, and life in a way that feels accessible and shared.
Film has a way of opening conversations that can otherwise feel hard to begin. It creates a gentle entry point. Allowing people to reflect, to question, and to connect with each other through a common experience.
Last time we held these nights, we saw a mix of people come through. Some with lived experience of loss, others simply curious. What formed was a quiet sense of community. People staying a little longer, talking, sitting with what had been stirred.
We’re looking forward to creating that again.
Save the date for our first screening: Friday 22nd May - The Straight Story, directed by David Lynch
You can Find more information and RSVP here.
First Aid Training
Earlier this year, our team came together for first aid training alongside a number of Sydney based doulas and independent funeral directors.
It turned into a really fun afternoon, filled with role playing, practical scenarios, and conversations around situations we might realistically come across in our work.
While so much of what we do centres around emotional and practical support, maintaining confidence in emergency response and care is also an important part of showing up well for people.
It was great to learn alongside others in the wider end of life community, continuing to build both skills and connection across this work.
Here We Are, the Living
Over the past year, Victoria Spence has been collaborating with audio storyteller and creative producer Jess Hamilton on Here We Are, the Living, an immersive audio project exploring the inner workings of our holistic funeral home and the people who care for both the living and the dead.
Across eight episodes, the series offers a poetic and deeply human look into death care, grief, dying processes, and the evolving ways communities are reclaiming knowledge and language around the end of life.
The project centres Life Rites and the many people who move through the space, including funeral directors, death doulas, artists, florists, and community members. It also speaks particularly to queer and trans communities, reflecting the identities and values held within much of our team and the care we provide.
Partially funded by Create NSW, the project is currently in production and will launch in October 2026 as a free and globally accessible podcast, alongside an interactive website with resources and death literacy materials. We are seeking funding to complete production, deliver and launch the podcast, build an interactive website which will host images from the series and death literacy, resources, and to run promotional and community outreach campaigns to reach wide and diverse audiences. All supporters will be invited to an intimate listening night at Life Rites ahead of the launch of the podcast!
If this sounds like something you would like to contribute towards, you can find more information and listen to a preview here.
As always, thank you for continuing to engage with this work alongside us.
Whether through conversation, ceremony, community events, education, or simple curiosity, every interaction helps create a more open and human relationship with death and dying.
We look forward to sharing more with you as the year continues.
Love,
The Life Rites Funerals team