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Art Twistory: Cemetery Art and Architecture

  • Louden Nelson Community Center 301 Center Street Santa Cruz, CA, 95060 United States (map)

The art and architecture styles that comprise any cemetery can visually describe its culture in various aspects.  The inscriptions and images on tombstones, monuments, and other objects indicate a society’s general outlook on death, its prevailing religions or secularization, gender roles, and other social stratification such as race and ethnicity.  There is quantifiable data about life expectancy, birth and mortality rates, family size, and even some political and economic history recorded in the wood, stone, and earthen assemblages.  This photographic presentation looks at how funerary art and architecture evince the values and trends of cemetery occupants and their contemporaneous society, from ancient faraway burials to modern local customs.  Cost: $10 donation appreciated, $5 students and seniors.  No reservations necessary.  (Supporting essay here)  (About Art Twistory)

Earlier Event: September 1
Art Twistory: The Merry Widow
Later Event: October 18
Dia de los Muertos