europe
Old Town Cemetery is actually a complex of cemeteries in the centrally located town of Stirling. For centuries, Scots have referred to Stirling as “the gateway to the highlands,” lending it historical significance.
In the foreground of this image is a wrought iron gate with a cement globe extending from the top. Beyond the gate is an old cemetery. Rows of stone and marble monuments have been erected in a linear pattern to mark the burial grounds of former generations. These markers date back as far as the 16th century, eluding to a multifaceted history.
Beyond the cemetery is a lush green landscape of trees on a hillside and rolling green pastures below.
The globe at the entrance seems very significant. I can imagine this fence being erected to delineate the space between the living and the dead, with the globe signifying that all are still present on this earth. The care and artistry with which the stone markers have been made suggests the attention paid to the ancestors by their living descendants. These stones are from a time when life in this small town might have been the totality of experience for the humans buried underneath.
This place marks stories of witchcraft and also social and historical events, including the Jacobite uprisings and industrialization. The grazing sheep in the valley beyond show a history that cannot be placed in time.
The addition of a veil of cool and repetitive colour patterns places the image outside of everyday experience with the hopes of suggesting a nuanced reading. By creating a mood and a sense of distancing for the viewer, time and certainty become erased.