理查德·J·莫伊蘭 (Richard J. Moylan)在擔任紐約布魯克林綠林公墓(Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn)總經理的近40年期間，將它改造轉型為二個非營利，文化機構，讓紐約人驕傲無比

Richard J. Moylan got a job cutting grass at Green-Wood Cemetery during law school in the 1970s. He stayed until last week.Credit...Amir Hamja for The New York Times

He Made Green-Wood Cemetery a Destination for the Living

Richard J. Moylan has overseen a transformation of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn in his nearly 40 years as president. Now he’s ready to retire.

Richard J. Moylan got a job cutting grass at Green-Wood Cemetery during law school in the 1970s. He stayed until last week.Credit...Amir Hamja for The New York Times

這是理查德·J·莫伊蘭的肖像。陽光明媚的日子裡，他穿著藍色西裝，站在教堂附近一座綠草如茵的墓地裡，目光偏向一邊。
理查德·J·莫伊蘭在上世紀70年代讀法學院時，在綠林公墓找到了一份修剪草坪的工作。他一直在那裡工作到上週。圖片來源：Amir Hamja 為《紐約時報》拍攝
他讓綠林公墓成為生者的歸宿
理查德·J·莫伊蘭在擔任總經理的近40年裡，監督了布魯克林綠林公墓的改造。現在，他準備退休了。

理查德·J·莫伊蘭在上世紀70年代讀法學院時，在綠林公墓找到了一份修剪草坪的工作。他一直在那裡工作到上週。圖片來源：Amir Hamja 為《紐約時報》拍攝

The cemetery has commissioned contemporary artworks and added events that account for the changing demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods.Credit...Amir Hamja for The New York Times

“I thought, My God, here I am in my local cemetery, and it seemed so much more sublime than Carnegie Hall,” Ms. Cunningham said. “I just felt so happy to be a New Yorker.”

Over the years, Mr. Moylan added green burials and was persuaded to allow the grass to grow wild in one area to attract pollinators, a practice that has upset some families whose relatives are buried there. The cemetery created an artist-in-residence program and commissioned new sculptures, including an obelisk by the French conceptual artist Sophie Calle, with a slot into which visitors are invited to slip notes describing their secrets.

Heidi Lau, a ceramist who in 2021 became Green-Wood’s first artist in residence, said she walked the grounds every day to find a theme for her commission. “Seeing the seasons change and thinking about the garden as a metaphor for immortality and change, which is also a concept in Chinese gardens,” she said. The result was an abstract installation, now in the permanent collection, that she called “Gardens as Cosmic Terrains.”

「我心想，天哪，我竟然就在我家附近的墓地裡，這感覺比卡內基音樂廳莊嚴多了，」坎寧安女士說。 “我感覺自己是個紐約人，真是太幸福了。”

多年來，莫伊蘭先生增加了綠色墓葬，並被說服讓一處地方的野草自由生長，以吸引傳粉昆蟲。這種做法讓一些埋葬在那裡的親屬的家人感到不安。墓園設立了一個藝術家駐地項目，並委託創作了新的雕塑，其中包括法國概念藝術家索菲·卡爾創作的方尖碑，碑上有一個開口，邀請參觀者將記錄他們秘密的紙條塞進去。

陶藝家海蒂·劉於2021年成為格林伍德墓地的首位駐場藝術家，她說她每天都會在墓地裡走動，為她的委託作品尋找主題。 「觀察四季的變遷，將花園視為永恆與變化的隱喻，這也是中國花園的概念，」她說。最後創作出一件抽象裝置作品，現已被永久收藏，她稱之為「花園作為宇宙地形」。

 “If you’re going to spend an eternity,” Mr. Hamill once explained, “better with a rogue than with a saint who would drive you into slumber.”

哈米爾先生曾經解釋道：“如果你要度過永恆，那麼和一個流氓在一起要比和一個會讓你沉睡的聖人在一起要好。”