The Unknown Woman of the Seine was pulled from the river in the late 1880s. The curious smile seen on the death mask, taken by the pathologist, was eulogised by artists and writers.

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There were initially two lines of flight for me. An ancestor knew more than I did, and I was and am intrigued to know more of what she found. I wonder about the letting go into death in life as we try to process difficult emotions, and the smile we may find when everything falls apart and seems lost. And I think of the face of compassion we find in this place. The reference here is to Kanzeon Kwan-Yin, the Bodhisattva of compassion.