Day #5 of 31 days of INKtober. A little Ghoul hiding out in the tomb.
When I approached the theme of Ghoul I started ( as with every project) researching the origins of ghouls, historical and literary references, and of coarse portrayals in popular culture. This spurned a lot of small sketch studies of horrible little creatures eating human flesh. Real grotesque imagery. Then came the reference photo phase. Which took me in a completely different direction.
While back home visiting I took lots of pictures of the Sweet Olive Cemetery. Sweet Olive lies in the center of my hometown. Surrounded by a neighborhood of shot gun shacks. Just a hop skip and a jump from the newly renovated Baton Rouge Magnet High School ( my high school by the way). It is across the street from the very well kept veterans cemetery. Growing up we used to go there (always in the daytime) and look around at a little piece of history. It was established in 1850 and is the first African American cemetery in city limits. Walking through it and reading headstones and tomb engravings is an incredible experience. Unfortunately the cemetery has been untended to for years. Tombs have been piled on top of each other, trees have grown through them. They have split. The place is littered with cloths, trash, crawfish houses and disturbingly human bones. ( I once found a human skull falling out of a tomb).
I’ve always wanted to document Sweet Olive. Cemeteries are a big part of Louisiana’s cultural image. This particular one I feel is important to national history and it is a shame that it has fallen into such disrepair.
While going through my photos of the cemetery I found a picture of a tomb that had cracked because a large oak tree grew too close and it’s roots grew into the tomb. I thought that this image would be more powerful than a gruesome creature chewing on a femur bone. Let your imagination fill in what this little ghoul looks like.
If you’d like to know more about Sweet Olive here are some links:
http://www.wbrz.com/videos/sour-state-of-sweet-olive-cemetery/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Olive-Cemetery/109668715765568
http://louisianacemeteries.blogspot.com/2009/01/sweet-olive-cemetery-in-baton-rouge.html