Come experience "Grave Decor, A Celebration of Memory", a series about the living keeping someone close through memory. Artist/photographer Diane Reeves offers the viewer an opporunity not always seen as she documents her seasonal journeys into the realm of GRAVE DECOR.

Artists Reception on Saturday, October 12th, from 6 to 10 p.m. at The East Village Arts District Community Gallery located at: 433 E. 1st St. (near corner of 1st and Linden).
Call for regular gallery hours: (562)437-5142. Or to make an appt. Call: (562)491-5677

Artist’s Statement:

“Grave Decor, a Celebration of Memory”, was started a couple of years ago when I passed the local cemetery on the way to my studio and saw the decorations on the gravesites changed with and reflected the holidays. I began to realize that even though a person’s physical presence was no longer here, everything they were at their death was still in someone’s mind. The decorations I began documenting are transient. They come and go with the holiday seasons. People take time out from their lives to create little celebrations at the graves. It is so touching to see the holiday embellishments. This series is about the living keeping someone close through memory. I wanted to document this. I have photographed various gravesites on each of the major holidays, printed these in black and white, hand-colored them with oils and pencils, re-photographed them, scanned them into the computer, manipulated them and reprinted them on rice paper. Part of my having these pieces reprinted on rice paper has to do with the ephemeral nature of memory. I want to hang these pieces free floating against the wall or a little away from the wall. I want them to flutter with the breeze like a memory disturbed and yet living.

Diane Reeves