{"id":935,"date":"2025-10-14T07:34:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/935\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T07:34:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:34:16","slug":"green-wood-cemetery-marks-dia-de-los-muertos-with-art-installation-by-laura-anderson-barbata-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/935\/","title":{"rendered":"Green-Wood Cemetery marks D\u00eda de los Muertos with art installation by Laura Anderson Barbata \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"NY:\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Visitors can experience \u2018Reposo y Recuerdo,\u2019 a D\u00eda de los Muertos installation by artist Laura Anderson Barbata, at Green-Wood Cemetery\u2019s Historic Chapel through Nov. 16.<\/p>\n

Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\t\t Search our comprehensive guide to things to do in Brooklyn<\/a> for more local events \u2014 or submit your own<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Brooklyn\u2019s iconic Green-Wood Cemetery<\/a> unveiled its traditional large-scale, participatory ofrenda (altar) art installation marking D\u00eda de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at its Historic Chapel on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s installation, titled \u201cReposo y Recuerdo\u201d (\u201cRest and Remember\u201d) by renowned transdisciplinary artist Laura Anderson Barbata<\/a>, transforms the landmarked chapel into a meditative space for contemplation and reflection. It invites the community to come together and honor the lives of their departed through the cultural tradition of D\u00eda de los Muertos, celebrated in Mexico and parts of Latin America from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 with music, dancing, family gatherings, and ofrendas \u2014 home altars adorned with offerings to loved ones who have passed.<\/p>\n

Four handwoven hammocks, created by Mexican artisans Do\u00f1a Roberta Pino Mis and Don Marcelino L\u00f3pez Jim\u00e9nez from the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula using pre-Columbian techniques, form a peaceful space for reflection. They invite visitors to connect with their departed loved ones while listening to the comforting sounds of the Amazon rainforest \u2014 recorded by Barbata in Venezuela in the mid-1990s \u2014 and music by Apparatjik.<\/p>\n

\"\"Colorful papel picado banners, paper flowers, and marigold garlands adorn the Historic Chapel as part of Laura Anderson Barbata\u2019s \u2018Reposo y Recuerdo\u2019 installation honoring D\u00eda de los Muertos.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Visitors can add personal tributes \u2014 photos, flowers and notes \u2014 to the community altar in \u2018Reposo y Recuerdo\u2019 at Green-Wood Cemetery.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Inspired by decorations used in Mexican festivities, the installation features colorful papel picado (cut-paper banners), paper flowers, and marigold garlands cascading from the ceiling and adorning the walls. The vibrant display is meant to bring visitors joy as they remember their loved ones.<\/p>\n

The festive patterns and whimsical images of skeletons on bicycles wearing fanciful hats bring a vibrant energy that celebrates the enduring bond between the living and the dead.\n<\/p>\n

The altar is adorned with colorful skulls created by the Colectivo Tiempo de Oficios, an art collective based in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico. Some are decorated in the traditional Mexican style, while others are more experimental.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018Reposo y Recuerdo\u2019 (\u2018Rest and Remember\u2019) transforms Green-Wood Cemetery\u2019s Historic Chapel into a space of reflection and remembrance for D\u00eda de los Muertos.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Decorative skulls made by the Colectivo Tiempo de Oficios, an art collective from Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico, are featured on the altar.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of [artists] took a creative license and did what they felt and how they\u2019re connected to the skull and the offering and the project,\u201d Barbata told Brooklyn Paper.\n<\/p>\n

Barbata, who was born in Mexico City and divides her time between there and Brooklyn, said she wanted to create a space that felt distinct from the outside world.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe visual, all the colors, all of the different forms that you\u2019re going to see in references that you can connect, and the dialog between the Chapel\u2019s architecture and the trains with these other forms that have been introduced into the installation, meaning the colors, the paper, the materials and also the audio, to me, was very important,\u201d Barbata said.<\/p>\n

Visitors can also offer seeds to their loved ones, following the pre-Hispanic tradition of offerings, or use them to decorate the tomb in front of the altar.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough time, those offerings have evolved [and] include full meals like mole, pastries and hot chocolate. So I wanted the staples, the seeds, to be there as an offering to the spirits, to the past,\u201d said Barbata, who is deeply engaged in social and community-based projects across the Venezuelan Amazon, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Norway and the United States.<\/p>\n

\"\"Green-Wood Cemetery honors D\u00eda de los Muertos with \u2018Reposo y Recuerdo,\u2019 an immersive altar installation by artist Laura Anderson Barbata.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"The D\u00eda de los Muertos installation \u2018Reposo y Recuerdo\u2019 invites visitors to honor loved ones through art, music and personal offerings.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

In keeping with the spirit of D\u00eda de los Muertos, death is honored not as an end but as a connection to the past. Visitors are encouraged to add personal tributes, such as photos, notes, flowers or other small mementos, to the altar, decorate a calavera (skull) printout, or share memories on the flowing red ribbon.<\/p>\n

\u201cDay of the Dead is seen as a joyous moment,\u201d Barbata explained. \u201cYou want your ancestors to come back and to feel your joy for them so that they can receive your love, your joy, your offerings, your gifts, your memories. And so it really is about also understanding and accepting the cycles of life. As death is part of life, life is part of death; it is not something to be afraid of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Green-Wood Cemetery\u2019s Historic Chapel is filled with color and light during \u2018Reposo y Recuerdo,\u2019 an altar installation celebrating D\u00eda de los Muertos.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Barbata hopes the installation creates a moment of quiet reflection and memories of happiness for those who have known loss, while also forming a deeper bond within the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a community within the community,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s the community we build in our environments, and even the ones that we weave, not knowing each other. Many people might not meet, but yet they\u2019re all contributing to the same thing in the same spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReposo y Recuerdo\u201d is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 16. A Day of the Dead<\/a> family celebration will be held Nov. 1 near the Historic Chapel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visitors can experience \u2018Reposo y Recuerdo,\u2019 a D\u00eda de los Muertos installation by artist Laura Anderson Barbata, at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1149,1150,98,100,99,1151,1152,1153,1154,1155,1156,9,24,370,63,1157],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-art","tag-art-installation","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-dia-de-los-muertos","tag-don-marcelino-lu00f3pez-jimu00e9nez","tag-dou00f1a-roberta-pino-mis","tag-green-wood-cemetery","tag-historic-chapel","tag-laura-anderson-barbata","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-reposo-y-recuerdo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}