After the End

Memorial art works are notoriously difficult to pull off. Yet Candy Chang and James A. Reeves, two New York artists who have created similar installations in the past, hit just the right tone with After the End, a participatory work in the Historic Chapel at Green-Wood Cemetery.

—The New York Times

After the End is a public installation in Green-Wood Cemetery’s Historic Chapel dedicated to contemplating loss in all forms—the loss of loved ones, relationships, health, and worlds we once knew—as well as the practices that have helped us endure. Candy Chang and James A. Reeves invite visitors to anonymously share their experience on a scroll and place it upon an illuminated altar. Lit from within, each response embodies the form of a devotional candle, and together they create an evolving field of light. Visitors can read the handwritten reflections in the altar or sit in the apse and watch an ever-growing cycle of projected reflections above while oriented towards the greater community. Set to an original ambient score by Stephen Baker, the space gathers the multiplicity of ways we weather the difficult transitions in our lives. Inspired by the role of light in religious ceremonies and the visions of science fiction, After the End offers a refuge that reminds us we are not alone as we mourn the end of one reality and enter the next.

Over 3,000 letters have been written about the loss of loved ones, relationships, health, homes, jobs, purpose, unlived lives, youth, innocence, certainty, and faith. Visitors have also shared the rituals and practices that have comforted them: I swim laps like he did… I eventually forgave you and now I feel lighter… The grief comes in and out like radio static… I am in recovery. I will find my way back… Trees comfort me. Faith exists in these hills… I bought a turntable and began to go through my father’s record collection, his musical legacy… There is beauty in both solitude and connection… I wish I had appreciated her more when she was still alive… Why did I let you go?… Every year we light candles for each of them… I’m more honest with myself than I used to be… I’ve committed to helping others who are affected by the very thing that took you from me… No matter how painful, I found myself during this time… We all need a little mercy now.

Press & Info

• "Three Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now," The New York Times
• "Brooklyn Installation Turns Private Loss into Public Art," Spectrum News NY1
• "Green-Wood Cemetery Launches Art Installation,” WPIX New York
• "Green-Wood Cemetery Wants You to Describe Your Loss," Brooklyn Magazine
• "Participatory Installation Comes to Green-Wood," Brooklyn Downtown Star