From nature's landscape to cultural landscape

 

Neighboring images for October 4, 2023 flickr.com/explore

When displayed adjacent to each other, these four images suggest a long arc in the changes between people and their environment. At top left is an image of artificial illumination under an ocean of stars (1-Million-Star Hotel). This could stand for human use of fire for light and heat and cooking and to modify bone, stone, ore and other materials. Next is the prominent soaring geological feature spotlighted by evening sun (Desert Drama). This is a large structure, but one not built by human hands. Compared to the first photo, this changes the scale of meaning from the campfire to something much larger to which stories can be attached and events can be referenced. Turning to the bottom right photo (St Cuthbert's), the sturdy place of worship is made of cut stone for wall and rooftiles. This is the work of architectural traditions inherited from the ancient Romans and the Greeks before them and requires not only knowledge but also logistical trains from quarry to cutter to builder, too. Lastly, there is the multi-colored, multi-storied grove of towers that hearkens to ancient trees reaching far above the ground (Singapore - Garden Rhapsody). 

Viewed from 'campfire' to 'grove of towers', there is a long sweep of change in human interaction and control of the natural environment. The scale and technical sophistication grows across the millennia and this serendipitous sequence of photos gives a hint at just how much things have changed, both in the minds of people but also with regard to the habitats affected by extraction, construction, and ongoing operation of such large artifacts with cultural meaning.

In the eyes of the people whose greatest achievement is the use and control of fire, the giant monument could be taken "as is" for a kind of human worship space; a building that involves no construction technology. In their eyes, the idea of shaped blocks of stone to form a church would be mind-boggling; even moreso the multi-colored, multistoried, glassy towers. Looking through the opposite end of the telescope, from the eyes of 2024 people, the stone church would be recognizable but little more than a rectangle where believers meet, teach and preach, and conduct life rituals. And the geological wonder would be something like a postcard; something recognized and briefly enjoyed for its visual novelty, but probably not a site of pilgrimage or object of veneration to most visitors and viewers. As for the idea of 'campfire' and canopy of stars, for many people today that is beautiful and desirable, but hardly comparable to large scale architectural feats of today.

In summary, by chance these four pictures appeared in the Flickr.com editors' daily selection of images to showcase. As it happens, each one seems to stand for a different stage in the development of human powers of construction of artifacts but also of ideas and attitudes to the surrounding space and time. In this one screenshot of the four scenes framed all together there is a hint of the great scale of change from 'campfire' to skyscraper. And while the size of each subject and processes differs greatly, in the end human habits of attaching meaning or significance is a common thread across the centuries: people see meaning not only in what they do in relationship to each other and the things they make, but also in the space and time they inhabit, thus turning a natural landscape into a cultural landscape closely tied to the language they speak and to the assumptions that go along with it.