Our Story
Asphodel began with
a love of cemeteries.
Long before this became a company, I was finding my way into cemeteries. From childhood, I was drawn to their architecture, their trees, the quiet they offered, and the ways they could feel deeply connected to a city while holding a different rhythm within it. Some visits became afternoons spent walking and photographing. Others brought me back to the same place again and again, noticing something different each time.
As an artist and social geographer, I began to recognize how much these landscapes could teach us. My curiosity developed into academic research, bringing together archival work, mapping, drawing, photography, LiDAR scanning, and conversations with the people who visit and care for cemeteries. I wanted to understand how these places hold memory, how people find belonging within them, and how they change alongside the communities around them.
Over time, that research also revealed a practical need. Finding knowledgeable, respectful help with a burial place can be surprisingly difficult. Families may live far away or feel unsure about how to care for a gravestone. Community groups may want to document a cemetery but need help getting started. People interested in learning about these landscapes may struggle to find experiences that bring their history, materials, ecology, and everyday use together.
Asphodel grew into a company in response to those needs. It brings my research and teaching into practical work, offering thoughtful ways to explore, understand, and care for places that matter.
A personal approach to
place and care.
I know that reaching out about a burial place can carry more than a request for a service. It may involve someone you miss, a family responsibility you are trying to navigate, or a connection you are hoping to recover. You deserve someone who listens, communicates clearly, and approaches that place with respect.
That understanding shapes Mapping the Liminal’s work. Each intervention begins with a conversation about what matters to you and what the site needs. Careful observation, attention to materials, and an honest understanding of the work’s limits guide the approach.
My goal is to make quality, professional cemetery services easier to find, with the warmth and personal attention this work deserves.
MEET ASPHODEL
I’m Nicole Hall, an artist, social geographer, researcher, educator, and cemetery care professional, based in Chicago. My work follows questions about memory, grief, belonging, and the relationships people build with place. Cemeteries have become central to that practice because they bring those questions into everyday view: in a worn inscription, a familiar walking route, a carefully placed bouquet, or a tree that has grown alongside generations of visitors. Mapping the Liminal allows me to bring together the parts of my work I care about most: sustained research, creative practice, teaching, and useful support for others. The company continues to grow from the same impulse that first drew me through a cemetery gate: a desire to spend time, pay attention, and understand what a place holds.