Miguel Braceli: UNBURIAL (exhibition)

Unburial treats absence as a site for learning and reflection. The void left by the Liberty Tree becomes more than metaphor: an art intervention transforms it into a place to be repurposed and reclaimed through rituals and celebrations that probe what freedom means today. / / On the front lawn, where the Liberty Tree once stood, the artist Miguel Braceli has installed a 40'-diameter circle of cemetery vases filled with common wildflowers. It calls attention to the tree's absence and reclaims it as a tree for all people, not just the privileged and elite (e.g., the Sons of Liberty and the four Annapolis signers of the Declaration of Independence). / / In the museum, Braceli, with the help of a team of fabricators, created three enormous murals and two other works. The murals perform an autopsy of the tree. The largest multiplies the tulip poplar's distinctive leaf shape across a 33'-long wall in a wind-swept swirl of energy (the leaves were made from stencils of the Liberty Tree scion's actual leaves). A second mural abstracts the tree's tangled root system into a water-bearing drawing (using PVC tubing) that sprouts purple carnations. The third mural's subject is the tree's massive trunk, which was cut to pieces in 1999, with much of the wood later finding commemorative as Liberty Tree guitars, conference tables, and bible boxes. Onto nine chalkboards, Braceli has mounted nine pieces of raw wood, each supporting live orchids. What can we learn anew from this tree?, it seems t…