Artist: Lake Roberson Newton

Project: Flowers for the Dead

Description: In an effort to manifest William Faulkner’s idea that “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” Lake Roberson Newton’s project, Flowers for the Dead, examines the preservation of historical homes, exploring how previously private spaces are transformed for, and by, public consumption. The photographs in this series illustrate that because these houses and museums continue to be cared for by curators and shaped by the visitors who pass through their halls, they have not been lost to history. The very fact of their changing purpose has maintained their relevance. Tight shots of chairs and beds underscore the intimacy of these rooms and the objects in them, humanizing the people who might have sat or slept there. As a whole, the images remind viewers that, while these homes have been preserved, they are anything but static.