A few years ago, Hong Kong artist Andrew Luk stumbled across Abney Park Cemetery during a visit to London. He was immediately drawn to its sense of autonomy, as though detached from the surrounding city life. Shrouded by lofty trees and brick walls, the cemetery embraces a different temporal experience, embodied by a curious mixture of tipping gravestones, decaying statues and a profusion of organic growth. Originally built to alleviate the overcrowding of graveyards during the Victorian era, the garden cemetery became defunct in the 1970s after its management went bankrupt. Further neglect in the years since has led to its evolution into the ecological sanctuary that it is today. Over the course of his two-month residency at London’s Delfina Foundation this summer, Luk returned to the cemetery and continued his exploration. Reflecting on this quality of otherness, he draws on Michel Foucault’s concept of “heterotopia” and disciplines such as garden studies and cemetery management to further understand the cemetery’s historical significance and present circumstances. Tiffany Leung: You first came across Abney Park Cemetery a …