Digits Shape Diversity

Image from pixabay.com

Several years ago I attended the Body Works Exhibit. The spectacle of the human anatomy pushed me out of my comfort zone to a new appreciation of the complexity of the mechanics of the human body. The highlight of my visit, that stands out in my memory, was the intricate dissection of the human hand. Artists have long had an obsession with hands.  As for myself, I spent countless hours as an aspiring teenage artist using one hand as a model for the other hand to practice its drawing skill.

My sketch of a palm.

The human hand is one of the anatomical features that make our species distinct. The straight fingers with a third joint, the ability to cup our palms and the elongated thumb set at a wide angle make our hands uniquely capable. The flexibility, grip and skillful perception of our hands along with the convenience of walking on two feet provided the freedom to humans to shape their surroundings. The mechanics of our hands is a characteristic that allows us to creatively adapt to the physical constraints and opportunities presented by nature.

Cultural Landscapes are documents of the dexterity of human hands unique skills of using tools and creating art. This common ability among humans to adapt has lead to a vast diversity of Cultural Landscapes as unique communities all over the globe interact with different challenges and opportunities presented to them by nature. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization, also known as UNESCO, are an international organization that have as part of their mandate to preserve the diversity of the World's Cultural Landscapes. UNESCO believes that preserving the diversity of Cultural Landscapes has universal value to all global citizens and will build intercultural understanding.

TIMELINE OF CULTURAL LANDSCAPE THEORY

1945 - UNESCO was created after the trauma of WWII. The organization was based on the principle that lasting peace required more than political and economical policy but must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity. 

1972 - The document, Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

• Outlines the imperative of protecting the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage.
• Introduces the formation of Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Outstanding Universal Value, called "The World Heritage Committee".
• Lays out an action plan establish, keep up to date and publish, a inventory "World Heritage List" of sites of universal value.

1992 - The World Heritage Convention became the first international legal instrument to recognize and protect cultural landscapes. The Committee reestablished Cultural Landscapes are an equal priority to Built Heritage. 

2012 – Canada’s first Cultural Landscape was added to the World Heritage List!

2015 –ICOMOS Canada launched a website for the National Conversation on Cultural Landscape, all so known as NCCL. 

2016 - Currently the World Heritage List includes 88 properties with 4 transboundary properties listed as Cultural Landscapes.

Shadow Play

The Mobius Nature of Landscape

"River landscape with Riders." Aelbert Cuyp, 1655.

What does the word “landscape” mean? The term does not refer to simply natural elements or to just to the physical space around us.

"The Mill at Wijk near Duurstede."
Jacob van Ruisdael, 1670

The term originated in the 16^th century.  “Lantskap” is a Dutch term used by painters to describe artists’ perceptions of their surroundings. Landscape is established when human perception looks beyond itself, to discover a moment of recognition that shapes our identity. It represents the interface between human thought, actions, and the biophysical. Landscape is never static!

I find it interesting that the very etymology of landscape is engrained with human’s influences upon nature. The term originated in the Netherlands, which is a landform that exists because of human engineering. The term in its very nature implies a unit of human occupation and integration within our environment.

Möbius strip.

Landscape encompasses the interaction between: ecology, time, and culture. The interwoven natural and human processes, both intentional and accidental, that create distinctive patterns on the world's surface. Studying the patterns of interaction shed light upon our individual values and cultural attitudes. Our identity is formed by the möbius nature of landscape. Place shapes culture, meanwhile as Simon Schama put it, "everything in nature is imprinted by our tenacious obsessions." Exploring our relationship with landscape is an invitation for self-reflection.

A prairie girl's first introduction to the North Sea off the coast of Holland.