Have You Seen Someone Die? | Keep it 100 | Cut

The yes-or-no structure collapses in practice: answers branch into what kind of death, under what circumstances, and whether it was expected, Cut studio, Seattle, WA, 2024. Featuring 100 people. The distribution of yes and no answers to this question maps to age, class, neighborhood, and profession in ways that no one says out loud.

Who: 100 people who agreed to answer a question most of them have never been asked directly by a stranger: older participants who almost all say yes; younger ones whose no is sometimes followed by a story about how close they've come; healthcare workers, veterans, and people from neighborhoods where the answer is obvious; and a few whose yes comes with a pause that tells you it was recent.

What: The yes-or-no structure collapses in practice: answers branch into what kind of death, under what circumstances, and whether it was expected. Someone says yes and describes a car accident. Someone says yes and names a family member. A first responder says yes matter-of-factly. The cumulative edit produces an unexpected class portrait — who has seen death and where, mapped across profession, geography, and age, without anyone stating those categories aloud.

Where: Cut studio, Seattle, WA

When: 2024

Why: The distribution of yes and no answers to this question maps to age, class, neighborhood, and profession in ways that no one says out loud. Cut's format makes the data visible without ever calling it data.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx4_I2sK1I8

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