Layers was a temporary public art installation to celebrate the multifaceted history of the Naval Cemetery Landscape at the Brooklyn Navy Yards, in Brooklyn, NY.
The installation was designed in two parts to showcase the past and remind us of the layered history beneath our feet. These two temporary installations served to acknowledge our human impact on the land to inspire public attention, inquiry, and contemplation into the past, present, and future of this site, the city and our lives.
“…it’s too easy to ignore the past and much easier to look ahead than to look behind — but there is much we can learn from our history, we just need to pause long enough to consider its impact and appreciate its value… ”
A large scale paper mural on the NCL entry wall displayed the pre-development landscape surrounding the Brooklyn Navy Yards and the Naval Cemetery Landscape site. Inside, hundreds of stripes along the boardwalk represented pre-development patterns in the landscape to demonstrate our human impact on the land. Footprints left along the chalked stripes served as marks to contemplate and honor the lives historically laid to rest on these grounds.
Layers was developed in partnership with the Naval Cemetery Landscape, a project of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.
For more information see Layers in Untapped New York.
