REIMAGINING: In Transition

Deep in Van Cortlandt Park there is a sacred area, an enslaved peoples burial ground. This site is a charged space that speaks to the history of place and asks us to consider in the present how we now honor these people, how we enter these spaces, and how we individually and culturally consider transition to ancestors. 

In Transition is an offering to consider the unique cultural beliefs around honoring ancestors who have passed. It will be facilitated by artist and space doula Tijay Mohammed, along with Susan Misra and Marcela Torres from the Weaving Liberation of All Beings collective. Together they’ve created an experimental journey for us to interact and reflect with the Enslaved African Burial Ground, plants and cosmos. It will be a space for grieving, remembering, and celebrating concentric circles of ancestors: enslaved peoples, the land and more-than-human kin, familial lineages, and the many people who continue to suffer from oppression today.

Space is limited. Please register in advance.

This program will meet at the southern end of Hester & Piero’s Pond near the Van Cortlandt Golf House.

VAN CORTLANDT PARK ALLIANCE (VCPA) 

This program is a part of Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s Reimagining initiative. In partnership with the Design Trust for Public Space and Immanuel Oni, Liminal Sp, VCPA invites the community to reimagine the park’s Enslaved African Burial Ground site as a memorial space that fosters long-term healing and restoration. 

This project is supported by the Mellon Foundation.