Happy Birthday to You

“Happy Birthday to You” is a project that invites people to take a walk in the cemetery, and sing a birthday song if they come across someone who has a birthday.

The work was inspired by the main cemetery of Venice, San Michele Cemetery. The whole cemetery is an island itself. All the gravestones are surrounded by palm trees; the palm trees are surrounded by brick walls; brick walls are surrounded by water.

The project grows out of the story experienced in Venice, where reflections on death gradually deepened; the cemetery came to be seen as a lovable space which could be used, perceived, or imagined in different ways. Similarly, death and loss in our lives can also be approached in different ways.

Chuming Yu
Photo

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