After three months in Green-Wood Cemetery’s historic chapel, After the End closed last night. Along the way, visitors have contributed thousands of reflections about reckoning with loss in the 21st century, and they’re such a rare gift of wisdom and grace—a reminder that we’re all walking wounded. Each response contains whole worlds of lives lost and lives still lived. Most of all, I was moved by their collective presence.
A light rain fell outside as Candy and I sat before a masked audience and recounted the losses and questions that led to this project. Then we collected the scrolls from the altar and turned out the lights.
Many thanks to Stephen Baker for the beautiful sci-fi hymn that filled the chapel. And Cut Mistake for acoustic design, Rooftop Films for video mapping, KLN Studio for fabrication assistance, Walter Wlodarczyk for the stunning photographs, the NEA for the support, and the vision, faith, and patience of curator Harry Weil and Green-Wood Cemetery. Most of all, thank you to everyone who visited and brought this thing to life.
