Remembrance and Renewal: Cemeteries and Art, Old and New
Photo by Sean Diaz
What is art, if not an object created with beauty or intentionality in mind?
From the grandeur of the Taj Mahal to a modest grave adorned with a favorite flower, memorials are unique artistic expressions, symbolizing something much greater than themselves. For many of us, our entire lives will be marked and remembered by art long after we are gone.
The history of cemeteries and art in America is a long one. Before the Metropolitan Museum of Art in opened in 1872, cemeteries were actually some of the best places to experience art in New York City. Woodlawn Cemetery, founded in 1863, featured mausoleums designed to resemble French chapels, Egyptian temples, and the Athenian Parthenon. Meanwhile, at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, established in 1838, delicate marble angels soared over monuments. Before Central Park was fully developed, these cemeteries were popular destinations for people to gather and enjoy the beauty of nature and sculpture through carriage rides and picnics.
Mount Auburn Cemetery. Photo by Daderot, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Source: National Park Service website)
Massachusetts cemetery Mount Auburn, established in 1831, had a significant impact on attitudes towards cemeteries, with visitors finding themselves unexpectedly struck by its beauty and liveliness. Upon visiting it, English actress Fanny Kemble remarked “for its beauty Mount Auburn might seem a pleasure garden instead of a place for graves.” As nature and art often go hand-in-hand, in the early 1840s, the Boston Evening Transcript urged the owners of Mount Auburn to employ the best American sculptors so that Mount Auburn would soon be “as remarkable for the treasures of art collected there, as it is now for its scenery.”
This sentiment was echoed at the dedication of the Hollywood Cemetery in 1849 in Richmond, Virginia, where it was declared that “It is not solely, nor even chiefly with reference to the feelings with which we regard our own last change, that we find reasons for these hallowed and beautiful places of repose. It is principally to their influence upon the living, in the elevating and purifying effect they exert.” Many of the figures behind these cemeteries believed they were more for the living than for the dead. People found beauty, peace, and inspiration in their city’s burial grounds.
As the rural cemetery movement became more popular in America, many cities—which were too new to have fully established public parks and museums—adopted cemeteries as the go-to spots for art, picnicking, and community gatherings. Oakland Cemetery, originally founded in 1850 as “Atlanta Cemetery,” was eventually influenced by this trend, as it evolved alongside the fast-growing city of Atlanta. Throughout the nineteenth century, it went through cycles of expansion, disrepair, and restoration.
As Atlanta’s population grew, Oakland strove to serve not only as a place of remembrance but also as a vital gathering space within the urban landscape. “Oakland Cemetery doesn’t neatly fit the bill for a rural cemetery, but rather reflects multiple eras of Atlanta’s necessities and tastes,” says Ashley Shares, Oakland Cemetery’s Director of Preservation. “Oakland began as a utilitarian city burial ground and grew over time to incorporate elements of both the rural cemetery and park lawn cemetery aesthetics.”
Cemeteries are places that make us pause, consider our own lives and mortality, and look more carefully and mindfully at whatever is in front of us, whether it be beautiful, terrible, or tragic.
With these cemeteries being already so rich with art and history, how can we engage with these spaces in a way that adds to the conversation rather than just overtaking it?
illumine 2024
Oakland Cemetery’s upcoming event, illumine (April 17–27), exists at this very intersection—where historic and contemporary art meet, and cemeteries continue their legacy as cultural gathering spaces.
Curated by Cat Eye Creative, seven artists, whose mediums of choice span animation, painting, and sculpture (among others) will create original work that engages with Atlanta’s complex past and the haunting beauty of the cemetery. With the theme “what remains,” each artist has been challenged to explore the ways the past lingers, whether on a personal level or within a broader historical narrative. Their works will be displayed throughout the cemetery during the nighttime event, where they’ll be illuminated with creative lighting that transforms the space into a truly unique and interactive artistic experience.
“illumine is an incredibly unique event. While it may feel out of the ordinary to view a cemetery as a place to go out at night and experience contemporary art, it’s one way that we can connect Atlanta’s past with its vibrant, dynamic present and future,” says Sandy White, Oakland’s Director of Adult Programs and Volunteers.
By bringing modern artistic voices into this historic setting, illumine continues the tradition of cemeteries as places of beauty, contemplation, and cultural storytelling—proof that even in stillness, art and history remain very much alive.
Learn more and purchase tickets to illumine 2025.
Sources:
French, Stanley, The Cemetery as Cultural Institution: The Establishment of Mount Auburn and the “Rural Cemetery” Movement
Meier, Allison C., “The New Art Galleries: Urban Cemeteries”, Bloomberg.com https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-18/why-old-american-cemeteries-are-showcasing-new-art
