Burial
The gravestone is a stand-in for a body, absence actualized in a form. It is death’s afterimage. Stones erode as the living memories of the lives they represent dissolve. Many people ask me where I would want to be buried. I truthfully have no answer to this question. If anything, I want something simple. I have seen enough decrepit million-dollar mausoleums commissioned by wealthy oil barons to later be abandoned by their offspring because the maintenance costs were too high. Ultimately, it is up to those who will be visiting the remnants of my body. The living lay down the stone and find closure through this ritual. The land sinks inward and a trace of the shape of the body is left behind. The earth was crafted to absorb what was birthed from it.
The gravestone is a stand-in for a body, absence actualized in a form. It is death’s afterimage. Stones erode as the living memories of the lives they represent dissolve. Many people ask me where I would want to be buried. I truthfully have no answer to this question. If anything, I want something simple. I have seen enough decrepit million-dollar mausoleums commissioned by wealthy oil barons to later be abandoned by their offspring because the maintenance costs were too high. Ultimately, it is up to those who will be visiting the remnants of my body. The living lay down the stone and find closure through this ritual. The land sinks inward and a trace of the shape of the body is left behind. The earth was crafted to absorb what was birthed from it.