SOLSTICE: REflections on winter light

ARTWORKS

ECLIPSE

Hazel Dell is a unique dip in the landscape of Mount Auburn wreathed with gorgeous trees, brush, and memorials that frame a natural stage for presenting works of art. From light, to dark, to light; this artwork is inspired by the celestial phenomenon of an eclipse, inviting guests to participate in a moment of solace and passage into an elegant pocket of shadow surrounded by light in the quiet of the natural dell. Composed with sculpture, light, haze, and sound, the artwork is an invitation to slow down, meditate, and enwrap yourself within the passage of light and darkness.

PHASE GARDEN

The round form of the Asa Gray Garden landscape is traced with 12 towers, each an independent channel of light and sound. Visitors are welcome to wander throughout, sit, spin, dance or just be in the garden for any amount of time. The artwork is based on a process of connecting cosmic ratios to light and sound events in an immersive environment. The melodic scale, color palette and frequency (rhythm) of these events are all derived from the periodic relationships of the earth, sun, and moon at various and combined scales.

solstice canvas

The prominent Bigelow Chapel facade is painted with animation and echoed with bespoke sounds to present two new site-specific audio visual pieces. The first, a media poem to the stars, treats the architecture like a pendant of light and bends the scale of the celestial world in an effort to bring visitors closer to themselves. The second is a choreography of darkness and light that turns within the architecture, capturing the harmony of the candle lighting service taking place inside.

MICROCOSM

AETHER

Thought artist offering

Story Chapel is the beginning of one’s SOLSTICE journey, an introduction into the sonic and visual atmosphere that cascades into the landscape and artworks. Guests are invited to inscribe cards with messages and offerings as a collective release before exiting and continuing their experience. In center is a theater presenting a video of the Mount Auburn Winter Solstice tradition of “Thought Artists”, directed by Aram Boghosian. For 30 years, Mount Auburn Cemetery has brought the community together at the Winter Solstice for a candle lighting service. As part of this tradition, speakers of different faiths and customs have joined them to offer reflections on memory, light, and the cycles of life. For 2023 we invited local Thought Artists Deb Todd Wheeler, Karin Sprague, ‘Mwalim’ - Morgan James Peters, and Ricardo Austrich to continue this tradition in sharing their perspectives on these same themes.

The sound featured in the Thought-artist Video was created by Isnard Dupoux.

HORTUS GATEWAY

Four imprinted towers sit at the base of Central and Lawn Ave welcoming visitors to enter the landscape through symmetrical illumination. In collaboration with Mount Auburn’s horticulture caretakers, the towers are carved with flora and forms that are specific to the landscape of the Cemetery. The stately pillars hold representations of balance, endurance, renewal, and longevity; all which are present in the enclosed gardens and landscape of Mount Auburn. As each visitor passes through the entrance, their presence is embraced through an interactive expression of light signifying their arrival and the beginning path.

Fabrication support by Jaywalk Studio.