Wednesday, May 3, 2017

RIP

First I was interested to realize that Jean-Michel Basquiat is buried at the cemetery we are blogging about. Sophie Calle set up two chairs, one for herself and one for whomever comes over. She is a conceptual artist who uses her work to reach depths of emotions and thoughts for people. She gave visitors a broacher similar to a funeral one and it also had a guide on it. Visitors then are asked to write their secrets down, dropping the sensitive papers into a gravestone whose face has been chiseled with the words “Here Lie the Secrets of The Visitors of Green-Wood Cemetery.” Some people then would sit in the chair opposite of her, and confess their secrets to her. She would then write down the secrets spoken to her in a notebook while asking questions. She gave the paper to the confess-er as they left the encounter. I found it really beautiful that she based this project on her breakup with her former partner who told her a large secret as they broke up, which she described as “At the very moment he was depriving me of his love, this man offered me, through his confession, the ultimate proof of our intimacy.” I think this is a very interesting and beautiful concept, and I find the fact it takes place in a cemetery brings a powerful aspect to the project. 

-Megan McCarthy

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