Human & Individual

Just as entire gardens of the dead for the living can reflect the immense variety of the life experiences of the dead, so too can memorials, headstones, and markers….

David Crowe’s Stone ring, in Kilkenny limestone with a stainless steel bar

Art and Memory Design

Stone Forest Design’s Water Table

John Das Design

Den Bosch Cemetery, Den Bosch, Holland

“Traditional” but unique: Greta Garbo’s grave in Skogskyrkogården Cemetery, Stockholm.

designed collaboratively by Wilson’s long-term associates Peter Saville and Ben Kelly with Paul Barnes and Matt Robertson

Designed by Fred Troller

Care to pause, reflect, and enjoy here?

Charles Jencks: Metaphysical Landscapes at Jupiter Artland

Ahhhh…spaces for people: the ones who use these spaces…..

Garden Villa Noailles, France

Glenham Circular Landscape Tree

James Joyce’s grave Zurich

Jefferson Memorial in Jefferson Garden University of Missouri

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Nitobe Memorial Gardens at the University of British Columbia

Stonepath, Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Garden in Stuttgart

Memorial Garden, Webb School, Knoxville, Ky.

Serene and Magical

Eveningtime in a cemetery or columbarium or mausoleum can be magical and beautiful.

Skogskyrkgarden, Stockholm

A path in Skogskyrkgarden Cemetery

But my, these images beckon one into a safe, reflective place.

The Helsinki Cemetery at Christmas

Most of these locations are lighted for All Souls Day and Day of the Dead (in Mexico), and Christmas. Here in San Francisco, the National AIDS Memorial Grove is holding its third “Light in the Grove” on November 30, the eve of World AIDS Day.

Nitra Cemetery, Slovakia

Srebrnica Cemetery, Bosnia

Warsaw Cemetery

Canadian Cemetery, Finland

Canadian Cemetery, Holland

Mexico: Day of the Dead

Light in the Grove, National AIDS Memorial Grove

The creek bed through the redwoods, Light in the Grove

The clear tent at Light in the Grove

Here lies magic: view from inside the clear tent, Light in the Grove

So, also think about cemeteries in another way, another time to experience them….

Make us comfortable

You’re inviting us in, now provide us a place to rest, to contemplate….

Simple materials

Simply but well-designed

Restful places

Community

The National AIDS Memorial Grove, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Entry stone at the National AIDS Memorial Grove

One of the truest and strongest modern expressions of a community’s remembrance of its dead, the National AIDS MEmorial Grove is a stunningly beautiful and moving memorial.

It’s a creation of a community for its lost members. A place of remembrance and message for the present and the future.

The Circle of Friends

So, while I’ve been reiterating the need for humanness in cemeteries to make them living spaces, it only hit me yesterday at the World AIDS Day Observation in the Grove that so many people want and need to remember and to honor the memory of all those who have past before.

Circle of Friends - detail

And each community has different expressions of its needs and its culture.

But when they come together in a beautiful and loving space, they draw deep connection both within their specific community and with the community of the living.

A stairway into the Grove

These spaces can be both at once places of quiet and powerful reflection (and tears too sometimes), and are gifts to the world: here are dear  people who gave important gifts  that may not be given again.

That is the power of communities- and their grace.

Intimate seating in the Grove