A festival which aims to break the taboo around death has been held in Hove.

A coffin was paraded through the streets ahead of the Brighton Death Festival which was jointly run by Arka Funerals, The Modern Funeral, and Wild Arts, and aimed to dispel the secrecy around death.

Other activities on the day included the chance to decorate a coffin, a presentation on the future of death, and a singing workshop.

Sarah Clarke-Kent, 49, a funeral director at Arka Funerals in Surrey Street, Brighton, said: “Death is something so important, it affects everyone so much, and there is a much better way of dealing with it.

“We’re trying to open things up and make death a lot less shrouded in secrecy.

“People need to take more ownership and control of the process after death and having a more creative and invigorated approach to the whole funeral process is key.”

A performance entitled Confessions of a Funeral Director aimed to show the audience how a funeral can be totally managed and run by relatives of the deceased.

Tora Colwill, 32, from The Modern Funeral in Warleigh Road, Brighton, said: “It’s only in very recent history that we’ve built such a taboo up around death.

“I think you struggle to find cultures throughout the world and history that deal with it with quite the denial that we have currently.”

Ms Colwill said the natural way is to be closer to the idea of death, something that the festival hoped to achieve.

The event was held at The Old Market in Upper Market Street in Hove.