Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Inspiring All Who Visit | Page 16

People and Happenings
Roberto Mighty’s
earth.sky installation
By Jenny Gilbert, Senior Gifts Officer

On a snowy February morning, I went to the
studio of filmmaker and new media artist Roberto Mighty
to preview earth.sky, a multimedia installation that was to
be shown at Story Chapel during Cambridge Open Studios
weekend, May 9–10. I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. I
had been working with Roberto for the past year on fundraising for his residency at Mount Auburn, making sure that
he had the resources he needed to continue producing film
Roberto’s work does much to further Mount Auburn’s
and multimedia inspired by his time at the Cemetery. I had
new mission to “inspire all who visit, comfort the bereaved,
already seen several of the short films Mighty had created:
and commemorate the dead in a landscape of exceptional
each two- to four-minute piece focused on a person interred
beauty.” Today, historic cemeteries have the dual purpose
at Mount Auburn, using their own words and images of
of serving the bereaved and acting as cultural institutions
their monument in an emotionally and visually engaging
in their communities. In the nineteenth century, rural
way. I was curious to see how Mighty would pull these
cemeteries were celebrated as visitor destinations and were
diverse subjects together into a single statement.
well-known for their collections of art and horticultural
earth.sky, a multi-screen presentation 52 minutes in length,
specimens. In the early twentieth century, however, museums
starts with the story of Peter Byus, a fugitive slave from
and public parks became the primary places where
Virginia who escaped to Massachusetts. His story is told
Americans explored art and communed with the natural
using his will, a document that highlighted both the
world, and many cemeteries narrowed
monumental injustice of slavery and
their focus, often becoming solely
the humanity of Byus, it leaves a
places to bury and commemorate the
bequest for his brother, who was still
dead. But in the last decades of the
held in bondage in the South. Following
twentieth century, Mount Auburn
Byus’ story, Mighty’s film showed Mount
renewed its commitment to serving as
Auburn’s landscape in the winter.
a community resource and has become
Music enhanced beautiful images of
the national leader among historic
fast-falling snow as it swirled around
cemeteries in its role as a cultural
Mount Auburn’s monuments.
destination, educator, and steward.
In earth.sky, short narrative films
Mighty’s artist residency—the first of
are intercut with recurring motifs
its kind at a cemetery—is yet another
of the elements earth, air, sky, and
contribution to this effort.
water. These “interludes” capture the
The Friends of Mount Auburn
stunning beauty of Mount Auburn.
Cemetery is grateful to the funders
Whether we see snow piling up into
who have supported Roberto Mighty’s
the clasped hand of a monument,
residency: the Institute of Museum
a Great Blue Heron taking flight
and Library Services, the Anthony J.
over Auburn Lake, or the sound and
& Mildred D. Ruggiero Memorial
sights of wind rushing through the
Trust, the Cambridge Arts Council
landscape, the moments of beauty
and Watertown Cultural Council, and
are ephemeral yet profound.
the Preservation Fund for Eastern
Jenny Gilbert and Roberto Mighty (above,
Mighty’s films also delve into modern
Massachusetts of the National Trust
right). Lilian Hsu, whose family is featured in
stories, using contemporary interviews earth.sky at the premiere in May (above, center). for Historic Preservation.
to profile people more recently buried
Although the exhibition in Story
at Mount Auburn. Mighty illuminates
Chapel was temporary, you can view
the diversity of individuals interred at the Cemetery and
an online preview of earth.sky on Mount Auburn’s website.
the impact—whether great or small—of their lives. He
Explore the earthy.sky online exhibit to experience
powerfully demonstrates the value of memorialization and
Mount Auburn through Roberto Mighty’s eyes.
memory in our society.

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