EXHIBITION: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition

EXHIBITION: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition

Curated by Laetitia Barbier and Joanna Ebenstein

Featuring works from artists and collectors Eva Aridjis, Victor Ancheta, Mark Dion, Deborah Dwyers, Eye’s Gallery, Phyllis Galembo, Marc Hartzmann, Invisible Gallery, Robert Lerch, Evan Michelson, Kaiser Raimos, Stephen Romano Gallery, Shannon Taggart, and Rex Young.  

Pieces include paintings, photographs, sculptures, historical books and prints dating from the 17th century to the present, and from locations around the world. The show also features a rich collection of Latin American masks, ex votos, and retablos.

April 20 – June 30, 2019; Weekends 12-5; Free and Open to the public

Opening Party: Friday April 26 (more below, tickets here)

In the Catholic worldview, when the body dies, the soul of the deceased is sent to a location in the afterlife to await the final judgment, at which point it will be reunited with the resurrected body. The souls of the unrepentant who have perpetrated the gravest sins are sent to hell, while the most stainless—saints who were martyred for their faith—are delivered straight to heaven. The majority of people, however, are sent to a place called purgatory. In this liminal space—a sort of temporary hell—souls are purged of their sins until they have attained the purity necessary to enter heaven and reside with God.

The idea of purgatory is a contentious one. Originally developed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it rose to popularity in the fourteenth century in response to the mass deaths wrought by the Black Plague. Disagreements about purgatory contributed directly to the birth of Protestantism. One of Martin Luther’s major points of contention in his Ninety-Five Theses of 1517 was the Church’s use of indulgences—papal grants promising to shorten or cancel a person’s time in purgatory. Once sold as ubiquitously as lottery tickets, profits were used to fund various projects including the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Since that time, the popularity of purgatory has gone in and out of fashion. Today, it is visible only in rare bastions of belief, such as Naples, Italy, and parts of Latin America. The concepts of heaven and hell, however, continue to thrive in the Catholic ethos.

This exhibition explores Catholic visions of heaven, hell, and purgatory —via art, artifacts, and material culture drawn from The Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections and the greater Morbid Anatomy community—, tracing how they have manifested in various places and shifted and changed over time.

“Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition” and the Morbid Anatomy Library are free and open to the public at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse on Saturdays and Sundays, 12 –5 PM, from April 20 to June 30. To visit outside of these hours, email events@green-wood.com.

The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicap accessible. Click here for our inclement weather policy.

MORBID ANATOMY LIBRARY AND EXHIBITION OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, April 20th and Sunday, April 21rst
12pm-5pm
Free and no appointment necessary

Easter week end, join Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier for an informal gathering to celebrate the Morbid Anatomy Library as we reopen its gorgeous home, the 1877 Fort Hamilton Gate House in Green-Wood Cemetery.

This will also be your first chance to see our new exhibition Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition, a carefully curated selection of art, books, artifacts and ephemera drawn from the Green-Wood archives and the hands and collections of the Morbid Anatomy Community.

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse NOT the main entrance of Green-Wood. The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicapped accessible.

ENVISIONING THE AFTERLIFE: HEAVEN, HELL AND PURGATORY, EXHIBITION OPENING AND CEMETERY GARDEN PARTY

Friday, April 26, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Tickets here

Join us for a special after-hours garden party to celebrate the return of spring and the opening of Morbid Anatomy’s new exhibition, Envisioning the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.

Enjoy music curated by Friese Undine and complimentary refreshments while taking in the enchanting atmosphere. There will also be a special tour of the newly curated Morbid Anatomy Library by its creators, Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier, as well as an opportunity to meet the artists, collectors, and contributors to the exhibition.

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse NOT the main entrance of Green-Wood. The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicapped accessible.

Tickets are $15 / $10 for members of Green-Wood and the Morbid Anatomy Patreon.

Morbid Anatomy Library and Exhibition Open House

Saturday, April 20th and Sunday, April 21st

12pm-5pm

Free and no appointment necessary

On this Easter week end, please join Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier for an informal gathering to celebrate the Morbid Anatomy Library as we reopen its gorgeous home, the 1877 Fort Hamilton Gate House in Green-Wood Cemetery.

This will also be your first chance to see our new exhibition: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition, a carefully curated selection of art, books, artifacts and ephemera drawn from the Green-Wood archives and the hands and collections of the Morbid Anatomy Community.

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse NOT the main entrance of Green-Wood. The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicapped accessible.

Images to to bottom:

1. Purgatory Figure, Guatemala, 2017; Eye's Gallery Collection
2. Carved charred wood Purgatory figures, Mexico, 1990s; Eye's Gallery Collection
3. Shrine to the Souls in Purgatory: 19th Century Basilica of Saints Justus and Pastor, Barcelona, Photo by Joanna Ebenstein, 2013
4. Angel with Charrasca | Equine Jawbone Instrument, Mochitlán, Mexico, 2017; Fuji flex print by Phyllis Galembo
5. Mexican Retablo / Saint Michael the Archangel, holding a symbol of the all-seeing eye of God while conquering Lucifer in heaven, 19th century; Collection of Deborah Dwyer
6. Illustration of Hell from the novella The Black Crook: A Most Wonderful History, Lithograph, 1866, The Green-Wood Historic Fund
7. Holy Week Mask, Oaxaca, Mexico, 1960's; Eye's Gallery Collection
8. Manuscript page depicting demons in Hell, Rajasthan, India, Early 20th Century; Stephen Romano Gallery Collection

EVENT: Maria Sabina: Shaman, Curandera, and Visionary Poet: Illustrated Talk by Homero Aridjis on The Woman Who Inadvertently Introduced the West to "Magic Mushrooms"

On Wednesday, April 3, we are beyond honored to be hosting Homero Aridjis--a beautiful man with a distinguished career spanning poet, novelist, ambassador and environmental activist--at Green-Wood Cemetery. He will be giving an illustrated talk about his friend Maria Sabina, the Mexican curandera and shaman who invited American ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson to take part in a traditional healing ceremony using psilocybin mushrooms, inadvertently launching the 1960s psychedelics craze.

Following will be a wine reception where you can meet Homero and bring any copies of his books for signing.

You can get tickets here, and find out more below. Hope very much to see you there!

Maria Sabina: Shaman, Curandera, and Visionary Poet: An Illustrated Talk by Mexican Poet, Novelist and Diplomat Homero Aridjis
Wednesday, April 3, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Tickets are $15 / $10 for members of Green-Wood and the Morbid Anatomy Patreon
Tickets here

In 1957, Life magazine published a photo essay, “Seeking the Magic Mushroom,” featuring Maria Sabina, a curandera (healer) and shaman living in the Sierra Mazateca in southern Mexico. Sabina was the first to allow foreigners to take part in veladas, healing vigils when participants eat psilocybin mushrooms. The essay opened Western audiences’ eyes to the use of psychedelics and led, ultimately, to the synthesizing of LSD.

In this illustrated talk, poet, novelist, and diplomat Homero Aridjis will share his first-hand accounts of meeting Maria Sabina, whom he sees not only as a cultural icon, but also as arguably the greatest visionary poet in twentieth-century Latin America. Aridjis’s 2013 novel Carne de Dios, centers on Sabina’s life in Huautla and her involvement with Westerners who flocked to her home to experience the hallucinogenic effects of the “magic mushrooms”.

Considered to be one of Latin America’s greatest living writers, Aridjis is also widely known for his pioneering work as an environmental activist and his two-term stint as president of PEN International. Aridjis has served as Mexico’s Ambassador to Switzerland, The Netherlands, and UNESCO. Many of his fifty books of poetry and prose have been translated into fifteen languages and he has received important literary and environmental prizes in Mexico, France, Italy, the United States and Serbia. Among his books available in English are The Child Poet, Eyes to See Otherwise, A Time of Angels, Maria the Monarch, and News of the Earth, a biography of his relationship with the natural world and a wide-ranging selection of his work and writings in defense of the environment.