Rae Faer

“Becoming Grief”

 Interactive Performance Art

Dark yet inviting, Becoming Grief is a personified representation of grief as a living process. Together both performer and participant created a heart centered space where grief is welcome and represented with handcrafted care.

On opening night of the Being Edgy exhibit, our community organically engaged with this interactive performance piece. Those drawn to the piece were given an invitation to take a section of ribbon and write their grief on it. All who engaged lit up at the opportunity to acknowledge their grief and reverently tied their ribbon to the skirt—adding to this moving memorial, honoring a shared experience of love and loss. 

At the Death Disco event, the skirt took on new life as ribbons moved with songs that those in attendance imagined playing at their wake. In the closing circle of Death Disco, the now festooned grief skirt was brought to the center, witnessing the cacophony of voices raised in joyful mourning—it now holds these memories and serves as a witness to our ability to transmute pain into art into connection.

 Artist Bio

Rae Faer is a storyteller reborn through Olympia’s arts scene. Reclaiming voice and body through dance, modeling, mixed media visual art, poetry, and performance art both on stage and in the milieu. 

Rae’s work now focuses on telling his own story of grief, joy, and becoming, as a trans man. 

From StoryOly to The Otherside Cabaret, Rae’s work bares all in a raw, relational commitment to authenticity.

Rae is also a devoted parent, life partner, ever-curious friend and mental health counselor. 

He specializes in trauma integration, reunification, and support for children who are neurodivergent.

Follow on Instagram @yourfaerrae