Sentience of place
Sue Michael, On top of Australia, Mt. Kosciusko, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 150 cm
As children we were taken on wonderful holidays across Australia. I feel fortunate to have stood on Mt. Kosciusko, where there is no longer easy access by the public. As a child I was disappointed, for I was expecting the highest mountain in Australia to have sheer points, glacial flows and the thinnest of air. Instead, we tobogganed on plastic bags on the summer ice sheets. Now I relish the experience of visiting those vast undulating valleys. I am not sure where the idea came from at the time, but I felt sure I could see my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean from this vantage point, but that was perhaps wishful thinking, fuelled by adventure.
Sentieince is the capacity to feel, perceive or experience the world subjectively…and it draws upon other ways of thinking than reasoned, analytical thought (sapience). The above painting appears devoid of arms. Arms can be gestures of feeling. Consider happiness as having arms flowing in the ‘right’direction, arms that stop the eye when you want it stopped. Anger could be represented by mismatched hand sizes or excessive distortions, or a variety of arm angles. Sorrow could have elbows pressing into the waistline, or arms gently crossed over. Fear could be pronounced as bulky hands that are carefully positioned, right angles at elbow or wrists ( used unintentionally) or perja[s right angles put to dramatic use in a posture. Poses are built to potentiate the artist’s message.
There is another way of looking at representations too, though, where an almost impulsive, dashed off and unsure marking may be unable to cement any sort of clear emotion.
There is freedom inherent in poetics.
There is a reminder that the varied attitudes within the perceptions of a place may differ, just as the capacity to see may differ as well.
Yi-Fu Tuan’s paper The Desert and I: a Study of Affinity, clearly shows the subjective emotions that surprised Tuan on his first visit to a desert landscape. This article shows the range and depth of considerations that are possible, and this is useful for the artist to consider. This may potentiate the development of an artists’ bed of ‘solid knowledge’, where special structuring of representations, academic training, technical skills, symbolism of our time, are made secondary to their own sentient findings.
“Human beings have persisitently searched for the ideal environment. How it looks varies from one culture to another but in essence it seems to draw on two antipodal images: the garden of innocence and the cosmos. The fruits of the earth provide security as also does the harmony of the stars which offers, in addition, grandeur. So we move from one to the other: from the shade under the baobab to the magic circle under heaven; from home to public square, from suburb to city, from a seaside holiday to the enjoyment of the sophisticated arts, seeking for a point of equilibrium that is not of this world.”
When people move heavy objects together, they may do so on the count of three. In nursing we used terms that relate to sentience…Ready, Brace, Move. It is more guiding and this ia a principle that an artist can consider…be more specific with what depicted emotions can potentially do to the viewer. I will give some examples using old 35mm slides collected from second hand shops.
Unkown, Unknown location in Australia, No known date, found 35mm slide
Sweetness prevails in this coastal village scene. The sunlight illuminates the shacks at the edge of town. All is well. Images can help to restore health and a sense of place on an individual level, they can normalise reminders of place and the artist can be a spokesperson to the wider community. Image if this scene was widely displayed after a battering storm had damage the fabric of the town.
Unknown, View of Victor Harbour and islands, date unknown, found 35mm slide
This well known and beloved region used to host visiting whalers. This image still suggest local dangers and ‘wildness’ to grapple with and to potentially refresh an urban visitor. Artworks can be reminders of humanistic activities, or even be essential parts of society. Pre white settlement images would be important references in this locations, and also provide entry points to the wider community of dwellers. The consideration of other who have lived in this area for tens of thousands of years may inform our appreciation of its local place. A new local identity may be formed but the artist may help to collapse the past, present and future. Their images may be invocations, bound by the sentience of place.
Unknown, Unknown location in Australia, date unknown, found 35mm slide
The artist may wish to provoke emotions within a viewer; this may be the artists’ gift. The above scene may well be a dammed lake, or perhaps it is a natural floodplain; either way it speaks of an event that has happened. Images can be a way to ask for help, to carry messages, provide contextualisation within history, be a tool for socio-political communities, and promote a sense of social responsibility. There is a suggestion that wider environmental awareness within the general population, can be potentiated by the work of even a single artist.
Astute artists-as-geographers may bring merciful gifts at this time of climate change.
Suggested reading:
Yi-Fu Tuan’s books, Topophilia and Landscapes of Fear.