Content: What's in/on these Memories?
We know already that cemeteries are a fantastic place for tributes, and so it would be obvious that the content in these memorials would have to do with the dead. Those I call "tributes", and those and their importance are found on this page.
However, the content in these memorials - places of self-memorializing in spaces of death - don't usually contain writings or musing related to the dead. And if they do, it's coupled, usually, with the origin of the writer as well as any companions they wish to memorialize with them. The messages are usually endearing, memorializing dates and times and other types of memories either while in the space, or manifested and planned before arriving at the space. These are much like the messages left on lock bridges in Paris, which are centered around those who wrote the messages: self-immortalizing.
These messages exemplify the crossing between public and private spaces:
However, the content in these memorials - places of self-memorializing in spaces of death - don't usually contain writings or musing related to the dead. And if they do, it's coupled, usually, with the origin of the writer as well as any companions they wish to memorialize with them. The messages are usually endearing, memorializing dates and times and other types of memories either while in the space, or manifested and planned before arriving at the space. These are much like the messages left on lock bridges in Paris, which are centered around those who wrote the messages: self-immortalizing.
These messages exemplify the crossing between public and private spaces:
This is a picture from a grave (nameless) near Jim Morrison's grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery (Paris, France). One can clearly see the markings in this piece, where the writer must have used some sort of rock that made marks into the grave near Morrison's. The interesting aspects of this picture are two things: one, the fact that the writer of this note found the grave near Jim Morrison's the best place to write this message (most likely permanently; however, I did not inspect the truth of this assumption). Perhaps it was because Morrison's grave was much too crowded to write a note, or possibly because the writer didn't want to vandalize Morrison's grave directly. No matter the motive, the writer ("Cezar") seems to have signed this spot every year that he/she/they has/have come to this location (1993, 1994, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012). This probably means that the spot is popular, and "Cezar" is continuing to mark the space for others to see how many times the writer has visited.
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This symbol was also found on the same gravestone that "Cezar"'s signatures were. I do not know what the symbol is (if you know, please contact me), but it definitely was not made with the same rocks that made "Cezar"'s signatures. Upon further inspection, it could be determined that the methods of imprinting this symbol onto the rock was probably either paint or marker of some kind, considering the consistency of the mark. It can be concluded, then, that whoever put this mark on the grave must have come there with the intention to do so, and thus the mark was produced successfully. While I am not sure if whether this mark is a personal, group, or cause identifier - since I could not find data on this particular symbol - it is definitely an identifier of someone wanting to make a mark in a site previously understood to be private; or is it?
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The picture here is of the area above "Cezar"'s signature, near Morrison's grave. While a lot of the evidence for this activity points towards the fact that Morrison's grave is in the vicinity, it isn't completely proven. However, with messages like the ones in this photo (messages like "legalise it!" and "legal" and what looks to be some sort of star-and-circle symbol) the evidence points towards that conclusion. It is known that Morrison did use drugs to try to protest the establishment and to further his creative process, and thus the pro-arguments for legalization of drugs would seem likely to be near his grave. It was also noted from an interview that I had with a man from New Zealand visiting Abelard and Heloise's grave in the same cemetery that, before the fences were put up around Morrison's grave, fans would smoke there, and leave cigarettes for him. So the idea that these messages are not far away is not completely impossible to conclude. It's not his grave, but it's someone's nearby. Why does this happen?
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