Program Details
Set within the historic Freethinkers Cemetery, this participatory conversation invites attendees to explore the intersections of death work, ecological stewardship, grief, and community. Through stories and dialogue, cemetery stewards and community practitioners will consider how burial grounds connect us to place, belonging, memory, and the ongoing work of caring for both people and land.
Location
Cemetery on Slotty Road
Prairie du Sac, WI 53578
(Specific location to be shared)
- Panel discussion
- Inside
Contributors
Dustin Duve, Meghan Allynn Johnson + Andra Olney-Larson
https://naturalpathsanctuary.org, https://www.madisondeathstudio.com, https://caspernaturalcemetery.com,
Instagram: @madison.death.studio
Dustin Duve is the Director of Natural Path Sanctuary, a green burial ground located within the Farley Center for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability in Verona, Wisconsin. He has been with the organization since 2021. He frequently leads walking tours and educational workshops, such as the "Mock Burial Workshop", to teach the public about eco-friendly end-of-life options. He has also been featured in local media discussing how his work as a cemeterian in a natural burial cemetery helps families navigate grief through more direct, manual involvement in the process.
Meghan Allynn Johnson is an artist, educator, and death worker based in Madison, Wisconsin. Her work explores grief, mortality, ritual, and the role of art in helping people navigate loss, uncertainty, and transformation. She is the founder and director of Madison Death STUDIO + Bookshop, an artist-run project exploring community-based death care. Through creative practice, teaching, and community organizing, she investigates how art can function as a form of cultural care—creating spaces for meaning-making, ritual, and collective engagement with mortality.
Andra Olney-Larson is the Director of the Casper Creek Natural Cemetery – the only Green Burial Council-certified conservation cemetery serving the tri-states of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Dedicated to bringing sustainable end-of-life opportunities to the Midwest and ensuring the future of compassion in conservation, Andra believes in empowering families to make choices that align with their values and beliefs. As a death doula, student of poetry at Naropa University, winner of the 2024 Dubuque Women’s Leadership Network award for Achievements in Her Field, and current student of Thanabotany through the School of American Thanatology, her work with natural burial is a continuation of her journey in conservation.