Six Quotes

"By allowing us to really look at the landscape and see it as a social construct. The landscape in many ways is man-made; it is not like nature, though the two are entwined... artists exploit the sheer physical "beauty' of the natural world, and in doing so, allow us to question its validity and its place within our understanding of the landscape around us."

-Denise Markonish. Badlands new horizons in landscape. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. Print.

I thought this quote was a good barometer to explain the reason of the contemporary landscape and why it's a crucial aspect of art. When photographing beauty, one must remember that its validity is questioned and that its beauty can be in limitless. It also brings up the disconnect between the natural landscape and the man-made landscape and the dialogue that arises from this difference.


"The landscape genre can be seen as a kind of performance, an interaction between land and viewer that is rehearsed endlessly in the presence of the viewer. It may even draw the viewer in. This gives it a spiritual substance. It is an exchange - though not a monetary one - between human and natural. It may even be a kind of giving voice."

-Ginger Strand. (Essay) At the Limits: Landschaft, Landscape, and the Land
Badlands new horizons in landscape. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. Print.

What I take from this is that when a viewer approaches a landscape, there's an interaction that happens between themselves and the land that's presented. There's a presence that attracts viewers to the image and therefore a spiritual connection happens for the space shown.



"In connection with abstract space, a space which is also instrumental (i.e. manipulated by all kinds of 'authorities' of which it is the locus and milieu), a question arises whose full import will become apparent only later. It concerns the silence of the 'users' of this space."

-Lefebvre, Henri. Production of space. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991. Print.

It talks about space as a social construct; space and land have the ability to change our minds and thoughts on certain aspects of living in this world. The landscape is determined by different governing 'authorities' and why we are one to question that aspect of it to become instrumental in the approach. I also like the idea of silence in my photographs, the absence of life in a pristine, yet man manipulated, way.



"The activists depict both natural and man-made environmental disasters, while the pragmatists deal with sustainability, politics of land use, and alternative sources of energy. However, these two groups are inextricably linked; they look at the problems and offer an insight into possible solutions. Adopting both serious and ironic approaches...[They] ultimately take on the responsibility we have to the landscape while at the same time using art to open people's eyes to change."


-Denise Markonish. Badlands new horizons in landscape. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. Print.

This looks at the was that landscape can be used in a political term, whereas photographing a landscape can imply the questioning of ownership and capitalistic and destructive forces being inflicted upon it. Different approaches can be taken, and different meanings applied, but there's always an unavoidable link between the two (activist and pragmatist).



"To give voice to nature in our era is not just an aesthetic act: it's political and activist. The best new work today is pushing beyond the limits, engaging in a dialogue with both landscape and the land. It commits an imaginative act that both makes and is made by the world out there, as well as the I in here."

-Ginger Strand. (Essay) At the Limits: Landschaft, Landscape, and the Land

When dealing with landscapes one gives that space to the world. By revealing the land, we take a broader look at what the land actually is. It becomes open to interpretation of beauty and use.

Badlands new horizons in landscape. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. Print.

"To educate and inform the public about the function and form of the national landscape, a terrestrial system that has been altered to accommodate the complex demands of our society."

-CLUI

Thompson, Nato, and Independent Curators International. Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism. New York: Melville House, 2008. Print.

The Center for Land Use Interpretation deals with a vast amount of visual knowledge of the contemporary landscape and its public, private, and government uses. We use lands in so many different functions and by photographing these sites and spaces we are able to open a dialogue about said space.


Bibliography:

Badlands new horizons in landscape. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. Print.

Lefebvre, Henri. Production of space. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991. Print.

Thompson, Nato, and Independent Curators International. Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism. New York: Melville House, 2008. Print.