Bright lights, art and live entertainment overtake Oakland Cemetery for a select time each spring. Attendees join together to celebrate the historic space, while raising funds through its event, “illumine.”
This year, illumine took place on April 16–19 and April 23–26. According to Oakland Cemetery Senior Director of Programming and Volunteers Sandy White, the event helped showcase local art while providing exclusive visitor experiences.
“‘illumine’ is our spring after dark arts event, where we invite local artists to create site-specific artwork for Oakland Cemetery,” White said. “It’s a unique way to explore and experience the cemetery.”
Proceeds from illumine go towards restoration and beautification projects, including plant installation and site preservation.
“Since Oakland Cemetery is so old, there are very few families that still take care of their ancestors’ plots,” White said. “We’re also a City of Atlanta park, but the city has a lot of priorities in its budget. Basically, all funds raised go to making sure that we can maintain the cemetery, everything from planting tulip bulbs and native trees to repaving roads and restoring walls.”
The event specifically raises money for the Historic Oakland Foundation (HOF). White attributes much of the event’s success to HOF’s dedicated volunteers.
“[HOF’s] volunteers are the backbone of our organization,” White said. “Most everyone that works the event is donating their time and doing it with incredible enthusiasm and care.”
Volunteer Nicola Pasquarelli believes illumine acts as a tribute to older traditions, while inviting newer generations to visit the cemetery.
“I always volunteer because I like to talk to everybody and get to see who’s coming in and visiting us, and share how beautiful this is,” Pasquarelli said. “We encourage people to come and have picnics because that’s actually what they used to do back in the Victorian times. People would come and visit their deceased loved ones, so we carry on that tradition now.”
White believes illumine helps bring new perspectives to the cemetery, particularly through the lens of local artists.
“I love to see the cemetery through artists’ eyes, how they interpret the space and what they find important and meaningful,” White said. “It always helps me to find new ways to appreciate this unique and historic space.”
“illumine’ partners with Cat Eye Creative, a gallery in Atlanta, to curate artists for the event. This year, illumine features art by Vanna Black, Marcia R. Cohen, Jordan Graves, Christiana Kwan, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Eddie Farr, Daniel Phelps, VAYNE and Fabian Williams. White believes the variety of art helps display Atlanta’s diverse artist landscape.
“We usually try to feature several light-specific installations, like this year’s interactive LED sculptures from [Farr] and a projection mapping animation on Oakland’s gate by [Phelps],” White said. “However, we have artists that work with all sorts of mediums, including [Kwan], a painter and well-known muralist, and VAYNE, a graffiti artist who has now done two 3D scenic pieces at illumine.”
The event also features lighting installations from the Neon Company and projections from Atlanta Downtown’s MAP Rover. According to White, these installations serve several purposes, including visitor safety.
“It’s a cemetery from 1850, [so] there are not a lot of lights within the 48 acres,” White said. “As you walk through illumine you’re staying on lit pathways, for us to curate the experience but also to keep you safe. You encounter beautiful monuments illuminated with colored lights and trees that cast atmospheric shadows as much as they are highlighted as a type of sculpture themselves. “
Visitor Angie Clawson believes illumine fosters a welcoming atmosphere, while displaying innovative art and performances.
“Seeing the headstones at night gives you a totally different perspective than seeing it in the daytime,” Clawson said. “It [brings] this fun, interesting edge to things. I also enjoy that they have music, and people can just sit and relax. It’s a very peaceful place, cemeteries are in general, and so having that opportunity to sit, listen and enjoy the atmosphere is really interesting.”
White believes illumine helps attract new audiences through Atlanta’s community of artists and art enthusiasts.
“We want Atlantans to really see themselves represented in Oakland Cemetery, which is tough to do considering how diverse Atlanta’s culture is,” White said. “But an event like illumine helps to create bonds with a different part of our community that might not want to come to our history tours or a garden walk. Art lovers can be cemetery lovers, too.”
