Every year, around 500 people in Amsterdam die without anyone present at their funeral, their burial arranged solely by the municipality. Een Stille Dood explores the hidden epidemic of loneliness and the growing number of people laid to rest in anonymous graves. The project grows out of my years working in home care across the city, where I encountered people who had gradually become invisible to society.
Behind people’s doors, I encountered forms of isolation that cut across boundaries of class, religion, and background. Loneliness emerged as a universal condition: pervasive, often unspoken, and indifferent to social divides.
The project draws inspiration from Eenzame Uitvaart, an initiative in which poets write and recite poems for people who die without family or friends to accompany them. Through a translation of these poems, I trace fragments of the lives of the deceased, bringing attention to the people behind the anonymous graves.
