Santa Maria Magdalena de PazzisPastel, image transfer on board 24" x 18" 2015 Private Collection Since I was a teenager, I’ve been fascinated with cemeteries. This interest was heightened when I took a class entitled “Death and Dying.” Our final class project required me to write a paper and record sunken graves at local cemeteries. The cemetery in this work is one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever seen. It is located in Old San Juan, on a ridge, next to El Morro overlooking the ocean. Many of the tombstones are still above ground with century old dates, inscriptions, and monuments that paint a vivid historical picture in my mind of things passed. Here, I examine my need for human connection in a place where thousands have been laid to rest. Visiting such places has taught me to never waste a second of my life. |