Mortal Portals by DEAD GOOD
- thedollshouseartga
- Nov 17
- 3 min read
November 2025 - February 2026
Opening on November 22nd, the fourth and final The 01625 Gallery installation of 2025 is Mortal Portals by DEAD GOOD, a community interest company led by sisters Katy and Lindsey Vigurs, who are passionate about positive and creative death education. Their work is environmentally conscious, inventive, participative, design-led and deeply personalised.
DEAD GOOD was founded in 2023 and since then LV & KV have been playfully creating space for deathwork & death education in the UK.
“Come for the eco-endings and DIY death rites. Stay for our quirky, neuro-affirming approach to mortality (& life).”
DEAD GOOD's aim is to build public imagination around death, dying, mortality and grief. As death educators, they look for interesting and unusual ways to encourage conversations about loss in all forms. They believe in normalising talking about death and dying in order to remove some of the stigma, break down the taboos and reduce our fear of our own mortality.
MORTAL PORTALS
The takeover of the gallery, installed by artist LV who lives in Langley, will coincide with the darkest months of the year, including National Grief Awareness Week from December 2nd - 8th. The winter months can feel particularly heavy for many, and there are all sorts of things that people will grieve over this period.
“We will provide the opportunity to think about creative, DIY and low-cost ways that they can channel grief, and we are proud to launch what we believe might be Macclesfield’s first ever pop-up Wind Phone.”
The first Wind Phone was created in Japan by Itaru Sasaki in his back garden, after the death of a family member. When the 2011 tsunami took thousands of lives, others came to use the phone, too, and it became a symbol of hope and love that doesn't end.
Today, Wind Phones are found around the world in gardens, parks, cemeteries, schools, and homes. Each is a tender invitation to speak, to grieve, and to know you are not alone.
A Wind Phone is a quiet place to connect with things that are lost and missed. DG’s is a 1980s rotary phone and it will be installed in the gallery. The telephone isn’t connected by wires or electricity: it is love, memories, and longing connecting it.
The caller picks up the receiver, dials a number, and says whatever is in their heart. There is no right or wrong way to use a Wind Phone. You can talk, cry, whisper, or just listen. It
is a space to be with your thoughts, your feelings, and the things you miss.
The DEAD GOOD Wind Phone will be open to the public for two sessions. As the 01625 Gallery is listed phone boxes containing art, they must be locked most of the time to keep them safe and clean. The rest of the time, DEAD GOOD’s skeleton Boo Too will guard the telephone and pique people’s interest. If there is public appetite for a permanent Wind Phone in Macclesfield, DEAD GOOD will explore installing it somewhere permanently accessible in 2026.
LV will also run two grief cafés at Picturedrome, one in National Grief Awareness Week and one in January (dates tbc so please check back here, follow DEAD GOOD on Instagram, email them at hello@deadgood.org or sign up to their newsletter in their website footer).
A grief café is a relaxed, welcoming space where people come together to gently explore and express any and all kinds of grief and loss through simple creative activities. All kinds of grief are welcome.
The installation will also include unique ideas for confronting or exploring grief and emotions around death, such as the A-Z of Creative Approaches to Grief, and artwork by DEAD GOOD related to their work. You can visit their online shop here to buy some of their wonderful merch and support the work of the CIC.
For more about DEAD GOOD visit:
You can find the Macc phone box gallery at:
The 01625 Gallery,
Market Place,
Macclesfield, Cheshire,
SK10 1EA.
The 01625 Gallery is a micro art gallery in two listed red K6 telephone boxes outside Macclesfield Town Hall, established in 2022.
Funded by Macclesfield Town Council, this micro gallery is right on the high street, ready for you to enjoy whenever you’re visiting the town centre or passing by!
Find out more about it The #01625Gallery at www.thedollshouseartgallery.co.uk/post/the-01625-gallery
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