19: Death T-Shirts

Historically, rituals honoring the dead have taken on various forms. In the 17th century before European contact, many artisans in Africa created funerary terra cottas to honor the dead, and these were kept in the homes of relatives after the death of a loved one. In addition, the dead were also honored through libations, or the ritual act of pouring a liquid offering on the ground. According to Visoná (2005) these fired clay images of humans once crafted by Lagoon artisans from the Côte d’Ivoire have been replaced by cement tombs, framed photographs, and memorial t-shirts.

Interestingly, in modern culture, one form of honoring the dead is through the creation of memorial t-shirts. This practice began with descendants of the African continent as a way to honor their dead (Shreve, 2007), employing this alternative literacy to give respect to lost family members and friends. According to Jean Shreve, the practice has its roots in the gangster culture of the west coast of the United States, where creating memorial tshirts was a way to remember dead gang members in the 1990s and became especially popular when rapper Tupac Shakur’s image was plastered on tees after his death. The practice gained further popularity with urban minorities and teenagers, and after 9/11, the general population embraced the practice as a way to give tribute to the dead (“Will It Ever Change,” 2006).