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This week in 1807, the Congressional Cemetery was established.
It鈥檚 hard to believe that anything 217 years old could become more vintage, but that鈥檚 what鈥檚 happened thanks to their new, temporary public art installation, 鈥淭he Landscape Listens鈥� created by Tommy Bobo.
One feature of “The Landscape Listens” is a 鈥渨ind phone鈥� designed to look like a pay phone. The wind phone allows people to have one-sided conversations with lost loved ones.
Kathleen O鈥機onnor brings her dog to the 35-acre Congressional Cemetery twice a week. She told 草莓传媒 that she thinks the exhibit is great, a little retro and cool, adding that this would be the first payphone that some younger folks will see in person.
As O鈥機onnor looked at the exhibit, she noticed a message book was attached to the wind phone, and she started reading some of the messages out loud.
鈥�’Love You Mom’ 鈥� that鈥檚 short and sweet,鈥� O鈥機onnor said.
The next message she read was less short and filled with pain. 鈥淟uigi, are you there? Can you hear me? I wish you鈥檇 come back. Life is sad without you.鈥�
While O鈥機onnor didn鈥檛 know about the wind phone before coming to the Congressional Cemetery, the same could not be said for Ashley Garacia.
鈥淚 may start crying,鈥� Garacia said.
With tears in her eyes, Garacia smiled and admitted the reason she came to Congressional Cemetery was to use the wind phone.
Garacia thinks the wind phone can help deal with loss.
鈥淭his gives people the space to process grief and the sense of loss,” Garacia said. It helps having this tactile experience of being able to pick up the phone, even though no one is there.鈥�
After she put the receiver to her ear and used the rotary phone to dial her late grandparents鈥� telephone number in Cuba, Garacia said she almost thought she was going to hear their voices.
The wind phone concept was first created in Japan by Itaru Sasaki. In 2010, Sasaki put a phone booth in his garden so he could have one-way conversations with his late cousin.
In an interview with the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Sasaki said that his thoughts couldn鈥檛 be relayed over a regular phone line, adding, 鈥淚 wanted them to be carried on the wind.鈥�
The Congressional Cemetery is located at 1801 E. St SE, Washington D.C.
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