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Liz Gridley - 'Is Cremation Right for You?' - oil on aluminium
Is Cremation Right for You?
Oil on aluminium by Liz Gridley.
Painting size: 56.2 x 45 cm (22.1" x 17.7")
Frame size: 59.6 x 48.3 (23.5" x 19")
Cremation is the choice for more than 72% of Australians, but this choice is informed by more than process - its also influenced by death costs, ritual costs, culture expectations of handling of bodies, and more. (in 2022* ABS)
Flame-based furnace cremation: is the process where a single body, normally dressed and in a shroud, cardboard box or casket is placed within the cremation machine and burned by up to 1100 degree celsius flame (fuelled by natural gas, liquid petroleum gas (lpg), diesel or petroleum products. Electric cremation machines are now also available.). The insulated oven environment is built for efficiency and can complete reduction of a body to bone fragments in one to three hours. The bone fragments are then raked out and processed in a ‘cremulator’ machine into what is commonly known as ashes.
Ashes from a flame cremation are primarily the mineral remains from the bone, along with some ash from the cremation box or casket, clothing, and anything else that may have been placed in the process with the body. Ashes are high pH and can harm plant life if not ‘treated’ before being placed with organic life.