In their short lifespans, flowers play meaningful roles in the defining moments of human existence, from housewarmings to ceremonial offerings, from acts of courtship to professions of love, from get-well-soons to expressions of condolence and memorials to the deceased. Swelling from tender bud to full bloom, flowers are celebrated symbols of pleasure, beauty and life. But as they wilt and die, flowers represent fragility and the swift passage from life into death.
Whether presented as single, elegant stems, bundled into elaborate bouquets or wrapped into wreaths, cut flowers bloom for the span of an occasion and wither after the ceremony concludes. The Compost Cemetary is a garden of compost pits for flowers, each dedicated to flowers that have served a symbolic purpose, from funerary flowers left beside loved-one’s graves, to wedding flowers adorning celebratory unions. Composting, the ecological cultivation of the decay and renewal of nature, is here written into the narrative of a funerary landscape to explore the parallel existence of nature and humanity. A participatory garden, visitors will be encouraged to bring their flowers to be composted, and through this garden reflect on the cycle of life and death, nature and renewal.
A proposal developed by Heather Ring, Alison Moffett, Bryan Boyer and James Wilkes for Wayward Plants.