In cemeteries, the intersection of ritual and contemplation is evident, serving as a space for both honoring life and reflecting on mortality. At Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, artist Jean Shin has introduced two installations that explore the marking of time through ritual and reflection. These works invite viewers to consider what is preserved and what is left behind.
Facing the cemetery’s brownstone Gothic Revival gates, Shin’s site-specific installation “Offering” (2026) was revealed on April 18. This earthwork honors trees that have lived their entire existence at Green-Wood. Shin drew inspiration from tumuli, earth and stone burial mounds found globally, particularly the rounded mounds used in Korean funerary customs, which she noted differ distinctly from American cemetery practices.
Green-Wood’s Harry Weil selected Shin for this project due to her innovative use of found materials. He sought to challenge the institution to create a large-scale work inspired by the cemetery’s raw materials. Upon her initial visit, Shin encountered two “elder trees” that were removed due to damage. This spurred her to commemorate them with a proper burial, similar in spirit to her previous work “Fallen” (2021).
“Offering” incorporates a permaculture approach, enlisting cemetery gravediggers to carve a trench over a hundred feet long for the trees. Shin used materials like fallen branches and leaves to bury alongside the trunks. A community ritual, led by Korean shaman Mudang Jenn, saw volunteers planting wildflowers and shrubs on the mound, creating a living memorial as the trees decompose and enrich the soil.
This spring, Green-Wood also celebrates the reopening of the historic Weir Greenhouse. Originally built in 1880, the greenhouse underwent a $43 million restoration, transforming into a visitor center with gallery spaces and archives. Shin’s “Celadon Landscape” installation, featuring mosaic vases created from ceramic shards, is displayed in the gallery, inviting visitors to engage in a ritual of memory and belonging by writing names of loved ones on mulberry paper.
