About the Book
When walking through a cemetery, sometimes you notice the carving, at othertimes the written sentiments; or perhaps you just absorb the mystery of it all. While there, you may remember someone very dear, and the circumstances of their death. You may wonder about your own death. It’s a safe place to reflect and find someperspective on life. The book has a free-flowing feel similar to what one would experience on a cemetery walk, or when leafing through family albums and documents.
Book Synopsis
In Cemetery Reflections, beautiful images of intricately carved headstones and statues vividly capture the pain of grief and loss across three centuries of American cemeteries. The book integrates poignant photographs, historic poetry and memorable prose in an exploration of the cemetery as a place of solace and comfort, where final and loving farewells may rest safely among the tombstones.
The text provides a compassionate context that deepens awareness of the significance and mystery of death. It draws on the author/photographer's background in social work and research into 19th century poetry and commentaries about loss.
It will appeal to art lovers and those interested in the role of cemeteries as the final repository of so many hopes and dreams, and as a meeting ground of the living and the dead. Those who have lost loved ones will recognize the consolation in its message. During this time of the pandemic, it can be a thoughtful resource for those who are grieving.
The rhythm of the book is designed to help people think about the meaning of their own life and death. It is a book to be contemplated slowly in a comfortable chair in a quiet space.
Author Bio
Over the past decade Jane Hopkins has photographed over 200 cemeteries in the eastern US and Canada. She finds cemeteries a treasure trove of art created from stone by the carver's tools. These are sacred places representing the essence of someone's life on earth and the loving memories of those left behind.
Looking for a way to verbalize feelings evoked by these headstones and statues, Hopkins came across an anthology of poetry from the 1890s, handed down from the family farm. The book had a large section of poems specifically about death and grieving. Hopkins felt the sentiments were a perfect match for the photography and researched more literature of the period. She chose quotations that eloquently express the grief of those left behind and the wonder of death, adding personal reflections from her own and her family's experience.
Hopkins’ educational background includes degrees in Psychology and Social Work, augmented by several years of coursework in digital photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. Her fine art photographs have been exhibited and sold since 2002 at venues such as Art at the Gardens (Sonnenberg Gardens, Canandaigua, NY), the Fingerlakes Exhibition and Clothesline Festival (Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY), the Dyer Arts Center at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester's Image City Photography Gallery, and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Friends of Mt. Hope (Cemetery), the Association of Gravestone Studies, and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts.