ABOUT ALL SOULS
AT MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY

History

The first All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery was October 29, 2005. Curated by artists Paula Jardine and Marina Szijarto, this unique cultural event offered the public an opportunity to remember their dead, whether interred at Mountain View Cemetery or not, in a gentle atmosphere of contemplative beauty.

It grew out of the artist’s personal experiences with death, their work together in community arts, and a research project to understand their role as artists in the sacred life of the community. They felt a personal need – and perceived a community need – to find ways to acknowledge our losses, and honour our dead, in ways that felt true.

They began with Marina Szijarto’s Triptych, three painted boards that invited people to write the names of their beloved dead. After each year the boards would be black with names and heartfelt messages. Through the years different ways for people to express their love were explored, and the new shrines and formats evolved.

The work evolved in collaboration with the cemetery and the public, in large part thanks to the Master Plan, developed through public consultation, and manager Glen Hodges’ enlightened vision of the role of the cemetery as a community space.

During All Souls, the Cemetery was often filled with live ambient music – from a variety of cultures – and over the years there were many other ‘offerings’ for engagement, including poetry, digital projections, hands on craft based mourning ceremonies, photography displays and indigenous ceremony with local Coast Salish musicians & elders.

The experiences were enhanced by being held in an actual cemetery, where sacred space was intentionally created.

The diversity of programming attracted wide participation, expanding awareness of the cemetery and it’s new facilities.

Civic Asset

All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery addressed aspects of the Master Plan Guiding Principles including:

• maintain a sacred sanctuary where people can honour the memory of their ancestors
• inclusive and reflective of Vancouver’s cultural diversity
• nurturing a place that is part of the community identity
• make the cemetery as much a civic space for the living as for the dead.

Pages 11/12, “Mountain View Cemetery Master Plan” January, 2000

• “Final Dispositions” a symposium bringing together artists, cemetery, hospice and funeral professionals, to explore available and emerging options including green burial.
• Open House and Culture Days activities
• Historical interpretive walks
• Family friendly memorial making
• Mourners Teas; community conversations about death and mourning from personal experience.

Throughout the years, All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery has been touched, changed and inspired by the many artists, community participants and members of the public who have shared their love and regard for their dead.

There are people who have come every year, and children who cannot remember a time when there wasn’t a sacred annual event at their civic cemetery. It has been a privilege to be part of developing this deeply meaningful new tradition for the community that MVC serves.

The artists would like to thank Glen Hodges, Manager at Mountain View Cemetery, who championed the idea of artists creating a sacred event in our municipal cemetery. Glen worked within the Cemetery Master Plan and CoV Community Services structures to provide and facilitate this much appreciated, community-recognized and important tradition.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS