secondyearvalerie

[secondyearvalerie]

alas, Dare? Gray! being playful, painful being.

“Like Gray’s work, life, and much of his speech, the pages that follow are neither tidy nor a chronological series of events that lead to easy conclusions. Those expecting a traditional biography, starting with the day he was born, steadily working up to the present, may be disappointed. However, I hope you will enjoy this unorthodox, affectionate thesis, and not wish it was a simpler one.” Rodge Glass, Alasdair Gray’s secretary. 

context of work:

Before stepping any closer to the creative mind of artist Alasdair Gray, it’s only appropriate to see his Oran Mor mural, for it will be the topic of discussion in this writing, and how his art shows a playfulness whilst handling solemn subjects.

SYMPHONIC Alasdair Gray’s ceiling at Oran Mor Photo: Mark Wild

Depictions of love, procreation, family, community, animals and nature, placed and painted meticulously to convey a message of ‘life and death’.

Certain emblematic figures in his illustrations include: Vast visuals of portraiture, poet friends, deceased loved ones, figments of his creations such as Bella Caledonia. Landscapes and skyscapes combine fantasy and reality, dream states and sobering awakenings. Gray talks of a winged embryo inside a skull, a symbol he has used and reused throughout his creations, which reconcile life and death as “death contains new life and old life passes through death” (BBC Alasdair Gray at Eighty).

A midwife pulling out a newborn from cosmic space, touching on the wonder of birth and alien nature of it.

Alasdair Gray scatters mottos precisely and meticulously, acting as chapter titles or captions for the sceneries, leading the viewers eyes among the skyscape. Alasdair Gray “remembered long after they are gone.”

His art, both visual and written, speaks volumes on the climate of his life in Scotland. Gray’s work and dialogue touches upon more private and sensitive matters in his works. He openly addressed political activism, endorsing socialism, opposing war and nuclear arms.

The Òran Mór website states that it was “affectionately coined the ‘Sistine Chapel of the 21st century’”, not an exaggerated compliment.

Gray’s murals and novels also advocated for Scottish independence, he developed a character throughout his novel Poor Things (1992) named Bella Caledonia, representing the good and strength in Scotland, the embodiment of the nation.

Bella Caledonia, from Grays novel Poor Things (1992). The composition and gaze of the Bella is a nod to Mona Lisa, explains Gray in the BBC documentary.

However, despite being a successful novelist, the artist struggled to get his murals known and seen and during the 20th century. There seemed to be a disconnect with his image as a wordsmith and visualist. With threats of erasure and demolition constantly hanging over ongoing projects, Gray did not slow down. The work displayed sensitive and controversial topics such as death, the nude and politics. Despite the obstacles Gray prolifically continued to mark the walls with his visions.

photo from BBC documentary.

Alasdair Gray’s mural artworks resurfaced in the 21st century in Glasgow; “the artist seeks to reinsert his marginalized or lost works into his city once more, in new contexts, for new futures” (Rodge Glass, page 1, Erasure and reinstatement). Gray possessed an eagerness to share his work, tirelessly painting and repainting murals he had first drafted decades ago. By allowing the art to evolve, but never straying far from his core messages, Gray made a comeback and this time, Scotland embraced him with wide open arms - even if it was 20+ years later.

Today, the locations of his murals play a key role in the artists visibility. With a large mosaic like mural In Hillhead train station, The Wee Pub pub staircase, Oran Mor doorway and auditorium, all locations are part of service for the people, (the ex-church Oran Mor is fee free and hosts various events). Gray’s work shows how art in open spaces allows for open dialogue.

The use of symbology and characters throughout his work is endless and overwhelming, it feels like entering a loud room full of conversing beings, and you don't mind not being part of the conversation.

an artist working on the Oran Mor mural alongside Gray commented on the frustration on reworking the same corners incessantly until it fit the vision Gray was holding. 

 By placing text next to certain sceneries, we read words and expressions, almost titling each corner like chapters in his books. He wants no room for error or confusion with what and why he has depicted. Through his excellent painting techniques and playful colour palette, Gray fleshes out 2D creatures until their eyes hold a piercing gaze.

Mark Wild and Kate Gollock Photography at the Oran Mor.

For his other locations outside of the magnificent ex-church Oran Mor such as under The Wee Pub staircase, Greys approach is no different. Glass describes his murals as “in a state of continual flux”. It took 4 visits from 1980, 1981, 2000 to 2006. 

After being told to speed up his ceiling masterpiece, Alasdair Gray agreed to complete it in one week. 3 years later, it became what it is today. In a BBC documentary titled ‘Alasdair Gray at Eighty’ (2014), Gray speaks to himself through an alter-ego, a suited, hair-brushed critique asking himself direct piercing questions, to which he replies as clearly as he was cheeky. At the very end of the documentary, which Gray worked closely with, he makes a peaceful comment:

“perhaps, we’ve done enough” a cathartic moment of self-satisfaction.

images used:

https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0360.jpg

https://oran-mor.co.uk/arts-for-all/celestial-ceiling-mural/

references:

documentary (2014) Alasdair Gray at Eighty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30hlcG0RRVE

Glass, R (2020) Working with Alasdair Gray https://www.proquest.com/docview/2376722833?parentSessionId=gtFzAl8yhWkdwyQEaYBb%2Bqt%2FHpZiYhBSTRwAvqRtnPs%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=12441

Glass, R (2020)Erasure and reinstatement. Available at: https://pure.strath.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/101454734/Glass_2020_Erasure_and_reinstatement_Gray_the_artist_across_space_and_form.pdf

[secondyearvalerie]

This is a snippet from a text called The Wars of the Wall - a literature review on graffiti by Kyle-James Keen. This piece of text shed light on the origins of the term graffiti’ and cultural references across the contemporary graffiti art world.

On the 10th page of this text, a bald man peering over declaring himself as “Kilroy” sent me on one of the deepest tangents this blog has seen.

Photo: Engraving of Kilroy on the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“Kilroy was here” is a graffiti joke said to have originated during World War II. With hard to trace origins, its current popularity shows the timelessness of visual art, especially in the form graffiti. According to an article titled ‘“Kilroy Was Here”-A Story from World War II’ by writer and historian Kate Kelly, there is a compelling story taken as truth today. A rivet inspector devised a technique by painting on crafts the infamous phrase to ensure the checks were not repeated for extra pay.

There is undoubtably a running theme spanning history of the “I was here” declarations in graffiti. This desire to leave a mark on the earth, a legacy. Living in a fast paced world can drive humans to feel part of something greater, more long term.

The manner in which the author of this article Keen referenced Kilroy is interesting and familiar, resembling notebook doodles when daydreaming. For many it is incredibly relatable to get stuck in a notebook doodle all the while your teacher is making crucial study points.

Forcing an entirely innocent tone onto graffiti would not be showing the full picture. There are undoubtably associations of street art graffiti with core "criminological components" (Bloch, COVID-19 graffiti). Expressing opinions on censored issues such as governmental control, racism, sexism, trans and homophobic statements, denunciations of police violence, and attacking political parties.

Photo by:  Junagarh Media, Lausanne

Photo by: Juergen Telkmann

I pondered on a time I was scolded for vandalising school exam papers. My teacher made a point to embarrass me for my silliness, which it was. However i did not understand the reasoning of being made to feel stupid for drawing at an ‘inappropriate time’ in an “inappropriate place”.

The fundamental beauty of graffiti/art vandalism is that it does not make the paper/wall any less functional or credible. It simply adds another point of focus to the area attached to the wall and momentarily kills the charade of “this is an important place, so be solemn people”.

This sends out a scary message:

'We daren’t reveal our silliness. There is a time and place for playfulness, and it is not here'.

But if Kilroy is also here, then the wall must be big enough for all.

Silliness is silly! Playfulness is fun. Fun creates relaxed people with clear minds.

Keen, K. J. () The Wars of the Wall - a literature review on graffiti http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.31401.24164

https://americacomesalive.com/kilroy-story-world-war-ii/

[secondyearvalerie]

Loch Ness, from Slinkachus Instagram.

Bottom 2 photos taken at the Small Is Beautiful exhibition.

Small is Beautiful, a London exhibition showcasing a plethora of artists work playing with miniature. I visited it over the Easter break to deepen my research of art, unexpecting to find street artists among the crowd.

I came across British street artist Stuart Pantoll’s work, also known as Slinkachu, whose work is a mixture of street installation, photography and miniatures. Using found both materials and rubbish on the roads as his props.

The sceneries Pantoll creates include humorous social commentaries as well as mythical creatures. However it is not the physical miniatures which last, as after photographing them in the street he abandons them to become truly part of the street. After all, the photography serves the purpose of sharing his art, but ephemeral play is maintained. And so they are left to fend for themselves in the city, just as everyone else has to.

This work is a great example of purely ephemeral street art. By allowing the miniatures fate to lie in the city’s hands means handing over the ownership to the beings of the street. They could become pigeon food, shoe debris or Thames trinkets, morphing beyond record.

Another unmissable point made obvious by Slinkachu’s artwork is scale. The nature of Street art is means high visibility and with his crisp photography, you can suspend your belief and pretend a shoelace is a mythical creature, but when seeing the street art scene from even 2 meters away, you can’t help but feel a wash of sorrow for the characters, so helpless and vulnerable to the ways of the city.

This is another example of playfulness in street art going beyond 3D as the artwork blends into the city.

References:

Pantoll, S (2022) '' [slinkachu_official]. April 15 2022. Available at: URL (Accessed 15 April 2022).

[secondyearvalerie]

(one more final image loading)

Murals, painted doors, street art. I want to discuss these art forms through the eyes of ephemerality and play.

When looking at Alasdair Grays murals, there is a childish seriousness about it, the content is gut-punching death talk but the visuals are rainbows and stars. This juxtaposition is an important part for the overall message of my mural. Firstly i am limiting the colour palette to pinks, greens black and white. Pink is a sweet and soft colour when light but when concentrated it is closer to red, symbolic of blood, setting suns and danger. Green represents nature and the organic, but even the organic can be toxic, take cyanide for an example.

A large staircase leading seemingly to nowhere takes up a large portion of the door. This was to display the unknown future, an ambiguity that can lead to paralysing fear, but stay still too long and you will be licked by green flames.

Near the bottom, a hand touches a large vase, almost tipping it over but never entirely. This is to capture the potential for disaster when too curious about a venture. A Hoji frog, master of land and sea i used to represent animalia, is painted on the vase, oblivious to the chance of being smashed into fragments at the mercy of the human hand.

Text stating MOVING ONWARD, about evolution and change, accepting the movement of life as non stop and cyclical. Just as Alasdair Gray put it in his Oran Mor ceiling mural, “life is rooted in deaths republic”.

A flurry of green clouds gather at the top of the text and stairs, smog, fog, rain, smoke, poison gas, the vapour is unknown and affects everyone differently, a symbol for states of mind.

Beyond the clouds is a mountain peak, unlike the stairs we only see its summit. The end goal, the dream, the final destination. It seems far and detached from the rest of the landscape, much like a human can be with their own finite fate.

A piercing red orb hangs in the pink sky, it is a sun, a moon, the pupil of an eye. It watches over everything and does nothing. It hangs high away from the activities below, unphased and unaffected, yet it affects everyone that goes on. It fuels the flame, it distorts the clouds, it nourishes the hand and the frog.

Aside from sanding and acrylic techniques being developed in this project, social artist skills were also heavily exercised. Negotiating a budget, time frames and settling personal differences as an artist not just a person, was a new experience for me.

Street art is the ultimate collaborative art, you are not working alone but with the surface, neighbours, visitors, owners, and councils.

[secondyearvalerie]

Photographs from a visit to Sir John Soanes museum, all objects oozing history. They are from a time a long time ago yet here they sit in a crowded room in central London.

There is something that feels misplaced about these artefacts. I was inches away from something so precious and irreplaceable, this thought put me on edge for the entire visit. These relics are examples of art that had been taken out of their original context and preserved, it felt surreal and quite unforgettable. The room was slow, kids were whispering, the room demanded that amount of respect, everyone suddenly fascinated by heavy slabs of concrete in shelves, carrying heavier histories.

[secondyearvalerie]

When encountering a street wall smothered in graffiti, many emotions can be triggered, however the emotions tend to fall into 3 categories

anger, excitement or indifference.

There is an element of self awareness in city street art. The city is where business, crime and silliness takes place.

The concrete ground and plastered walls made to look grand and sophisticated are now littered with smiley faces and illegible names, not so dissimilar to a child scribbling on a prim proper text book. This comparison of street art as childish is not a mocking one, in fact it’s a liberating one.

The medium is fearless, bold and in your face, it leaves little room for taboo, boredom and, crucially, control. it is tempting to preserve and cling on to the art we love. but this is one case when art when it needs to be treated with the utmost casual and relatable manner.

Street art is as much about performance and conversation as it is about content. The reasoning behind ephemerality in street art is to allow room for more and others and keeping people from being precious about art. I am not suggesting as a collective we should annually purge the world of existing art to make space for more, far from it. I am encouraging those to see past the rules of “what mediums to use” and which precise locations should art be allowed in.

Below is Welins graffiti, a mixture of “meme culture”, hyper realism and relatability. Everyone sneezes, but not everyone has envisioned a melding of Shrek, Trump and a literal virus.

These are daft and out there, and arguably eyesores to some, but they also starts crucial conversations about current events. Topics including the ex-USA president mishandling matters amidst a global pandemic, inappropriate and provocative Twitter posts to other powerful political figures.

Coronavirus Donald trump in Nørrebro, March 2020 and Sneezing girl in Nørrebro 2020, Welin.

Bloch, Stefano, author of topics such as ‘Police and policing in Geography’ and a journal on COVID-19 Graffiti. 

He writes “those criminological attributes that comprise the graffiti writer and (their) ethos is made even more myopic” explaining how the climate of graffiti as an act can limit or portray all graffiti in such short sighted manner. Analysing and understand why and where graffiti happens is no easy feat but it undoubtably contains crucial insight on perceptions of the people.

during the pandemic seeing the writing on the streets regarding COVID-19 it was unmistakably leanings toward “conspiratorial perspectives” and the state of public health systems.

https://www.welin-one.com/fine-art-1

 Bloch, S. (2021) ‘COVID-19 graffiti’, Crime, Media, Culture, 17(1), pp. 27–35. doi: 10.1177/1741659020946204.Available at: https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/doi/10.1177/1741659020946204

https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/doi/10.1177/1741659019890428?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.1

[secondyearvalerie]

[secondyearvalerie]

Seeing street art as a “social ill or nuisance” should allow humanity diagnose the ill. Shaming and degrading and removing antisocial art is the antisocial behaviour, just on the other end of the stick. The main focus of street art explores in this campaign is discussing the playful ephemeral nature of it, what this says about the city and why we should care.

sensual experience of encountering it in the city and to street art as performance rather than artefact.

In 2013 Wood Green, a Banksy mural was removed and “sensitively restored” in other peoples pockets and banks.  it is important to look at street art as an experience and performance.

“the thing and the experience that is street art.” (Flessas, Pg 1, 2015)

“The provenance of street art is the street, and the expectation that it is produced “illegally” is part of its essential identity” (Mulcahy, pg 2, 2015)

Is illegal graffiti more valuable/ sentimental/authentic than legal? Or is it the ‘unofficiality’, unapproved nature of the art form that makes it powerful?

“It is argued that, while property regimes facilitate the fossilization and reification of the art “piece,” the notion of cultural heritage facilitates the fossilization and reification of the street. Neither addresses the essential dynamism between the two or takes account of the vital role played by other artists who alter the original work or the people who walk the streets and engage with street art as spectators and unwitting participants.” Pg 3

Limiting Law: Art in the Street and Street in the Art By: Linda Mulcahy and Tatiana Flessas 2015) https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/35437627.pdf

[secondyearvalerie]

I have started to look into Alasdair Grays artwork, although mural art is merely one fragment of his creative career, the wall paintings he as produced have been nothing short of symbolic spectacularity. Every detail has been chosen with care.

The stars

The moon

The people

The weapons

The colours

The languages

[secondyearvalerie]

research campaign?!

Let’s acknowledge that art makes life. an unitchable itch comes in if art is neglected.

It winks ;)

It provokes. It keeps us alive.

credit to creatives that make life manageable

What is street art about?

It’s not only about defacing a wall, shouting a message in eye-catching colors, it is the personalisation of the area we live in, decorating and taking ourselves less seriously.

“Graffito” comes from the Italian word “scratch” which comes from Greek “graphein”, meaning to write (Etymology Dictionary, 2018)

Its about leaving your mark, not forever but for a time.

“Technology may have changed, but human impulse has not. Replace the stone tool with a marker” (Keen, pp 10, 2018).

Works Progress Administration 1935

What Was the WPA?

-President Franklin D. Roosevelt created WPA

-New Deal plan after Great Depression

-boosting all industries, including creatives.

Jackson Pollock worked for the WPA’s Federal Arts Project

“Artists created motivational posters and painted murals of “American scenes” in public buildings. Sculptors created monuments, and actors and musicians were paid to perform.”

References:

Keen, K. J. (2018) The Wars of the Wall - a literature review on graffiti. University of Brighton.

Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329191955_The_Wars_of_the_Wall_-_a_literature_review_on_graffiti

(Last accessed at 15 Feb 2022)

“Graffiti” (2022) https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=graffiti

WPA project https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/works-progress-administration

[secondyearvalerie]

Less talk more play - accepting street art as ephemeral.

Below are thumbnails of the style of the mural. The planning started in the sketchbook until i soon realised the need to transfer into a wall-like surface. Keeping the colours bright and the imagery odd was important to keep it playful and less daunting. As an illustrator i often feel pressure to be refined, clever and edgy as i never claimed to be any of those, so rabbits in a peaceful landscape was something i wanted to include.

[secondyearvalerie]

Let the Campaigning begin....

[secondyearvalerie]

End Speciesism!...?

What is speciesism? 

Before discussing the importance of raising awareness of species, one must understand what it is. Speciesism is the “unjustified disadvantageous consideration or treatment of those who are not classified as belonging to a certain species” (p243, Horta, 2010). 

It is the neglect of other beings’ interests and encouragement of suffering due to the fact that they are not part of a certain group.

It is also important to establish what a ‘species’ is as individual morality, biology comes into play when rationalising said inconsideration of other species.

A species can be defined as a “group of animals or plants that are biologically similar and can produce young offspring”, (Merriam-Webster, 2022), meaning that if you are not part of a species group, you cannot reproduce with them and have vast biological differences.

To avoid controversy throughout this essay, this is the definition that will be used. 

Humans have treated members of their own species questionably since the dawn of mankind, let alone other animals. Through mechanisms such as the industrial revolution in 18th century and the birth of the internet in 1983, there is a growing distance between what humans are capable of compared to other animals. 

This is not to say that before the industrial revolution, humans and other animals were in ‘kumbaya’ cohesion; Descartes, a 16th century academic pioneer in philosophy, mathematics and sciences himself believed that all non-human animals were “automata” reacting to stimuli, possessing no innate interests, unlike humans do. 

In The Rights Of Animals (2003) Cass R. Sunstein argues against Descartes’ take on animals as mere machines stating that “to most people, including sharp critics of… animal rights, this position seems unacceptable” (p389). Any pet owner can recall the look in their non-human companions face through phases of excitement, lethargy, hunger and exhaustion, all emotions humans feel but express differently.

The Wire Mother experiment (Harry Harlow, 1958) is one of countless pieces of research that show animals are just as receptive to care as humans and flourish from loving environments. 

The irony is not lost that this essay is using research that involved animal cruelty as evidence to argue against animal cruelty, however it demonstrates deeper the complexity of the issue in an anthropocentric world.

Anthropocentrism is the “disadvantageous treatment or consideration of those who are not members of the human species” (Horta, p.243, 2010), and it is the main reason for the rocky relationship between humans and non-humans today. Through agriculture, entertainment and scientific research, a’ humans first’ mentality has washed over modern society - if it improves human quality of life, it is justified. 

So… Why should anyone care?

The Earth is a vessel of finite resources, what goes up, must come down - and if animals are in jeopardy, then that includes ALL animals. If all monkeys and rodents are killed off and live in captivity for the sake of anthropocentric advancements, then who will replace the rats? these comparisons are not only made to amuse, but to shake the tree and watch the dead leaves fall of it - animals need to thrive in order for humans to thrive. 

So… How?

There is not a huge disparity in laws against ‘cruelty to humans’ and ‘cruelty to animals’, it is the punishment enforcement that lacks in effort.

Overworked cattle cannot unionise against their milkers and take damning evidence to court, so the system has failed them and the initial law amounts to nothing, it has failed the animals.

Sunstein claims that the only way to eradicate animal cruelty is to enforce “extensive regulation” of the use of animals in entertainment, agriculture and scientific progress (pg 391, The Rights of Animals, 2003). What this looks like in reality is animals having representatives in lawsuits that can be brought to the court, against the perpetrators. 

Talking about these issues is of paramount importance as that way people can make the decisions themselves, rather than following a road of cruelty they (1) don’t know they are part of (2) don’t know how to stop.

Ending speciesism is not something achieved over night with a couple of posters but it is worthy of even one person making a more informed decision in their consideration towards humans and non-humans.

References: 

Sunstein, C. R. (2003). The Rights of Animals. The University of Chicago Law Review, 70(1), 387–401. https://doi.org/10.2307/1600565 Accessed on 12.12.21

Horta, O. (2010) What is Speciesism? J Agric Environ Ethics 23, 243–266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-009-9205-2, available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10806-009-9205-2 Accessed on 12.12.21

“Species” Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2022) Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/species, Accessed on 12.12.21

“Internet” (2022) A Brief History of the Internet. Available at: https://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_02.phtml

McLeod, S (2020) Harry Harlow, Monkey Love Experiments https://www.simplypsychology.org/harlow-monkey.html

[secondyearvalerie]

No essay here, just a piece of paper with words i meant

[secondyearvalerie]

Peter Singer explains in a logical series of statements the matters of equality amongst humans and non-humans, and why equal consideration, not equal rights, is the crux of animal liberation.

Its hard to imagine living in a world where the term ‘animal liberation’ is scoffed at by many and unknown to most, in 1975 Peter Singer lived in that world.

Interactions between humans and animals has increased over the last 45 years, for greater of worse. An animal curiosity like no other exists now; through zoos, wild life parks, art exhibitions, meat consumption and even Instagram accounts dedicated solely to puppies, known as ‘puppy gram’ where over 12 million posts with puppies exist.

Groups like the World Wildlife Foundation (1961-present) exist to protect animals and the environment and collaborate with other powerful groups, a sign of animal consideration being taken more seriously.

Furthermore, the interactions humans have with other animals has vastly increased, according to The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA),

pet ownership has been “steadily increasing for many decades”, since 1960s to present. A personal connection and responsibility has increased as people now feel aware of animal suffering and has increased consideration.

Singer’s term ‘liberation’ is used to demonstrate the moral and literal prison animals are kept in by humans, due to a lack of EQUAL CONSIDERATION. Singer does not claim equal rights for animals as humans because:

1. not all animals are the same

2. there are differences in capabilities and preferences

3. human rights will not apply to non-humans

4. animal rights will not apply to humans

This is a solid argument if you accept that humans possess a morality to consider others in their suffering, if you dont, then all of this is meaningless. A capacity to suffer should give right to consideration. “The capacity for suffering and enjoying things is a prerequisite for having interests at all” (SInger, pg 7, Animal Liberation).

By pointing out their capacity to suffer and feel enjoyment, Singer not only humanises the animals but also animalises humans. The text inadvertently demands humans to reconsider their differences to other animals,

‘is the joy you feel superior than the joy of a cow?’, singer writes in a clear yet provocative manner that stimulate these rhetorical questions.

Through human’s complex languages and fancy machinery, a distance has been created between the ‘brutes’ and the humans, just enough to use them as means to an end.
However if a human can acknowledge the immorality of using other humans as a means to an end due to caused suffering, a comparison is made to animal suffering.


A shrimp can’t call out loudly (or at all?) like a hurt dog can but a language exists and has existed long before human language.

“The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” - Jeremy Bentham (1789)

refs:

Singer, P (1975) Animal Liberation, Random House, Pimlico London, available at:https://mdx.mrooms.net/pluginfile.php/2751881/mod_resource/content/1/PeterSinger-AnimalRightsCh1-pp1-9.pdf

Crimmins, JE (2015) Jeremy Bentham, available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bentham/

https://www.pfma.org.uk/historical-pet-ownership-statistics

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/puppygram/?hl=en

https://speakingofresearch.com/extremism-undone/ar-beliefs/

[secondyearvalerie]

Wilderness...

Trouble with Wilderness demands the reader to rethink wilderness within the first sentence:

“the time has come to rethink wilderness” (pg 69)

Cronon builds a strong case surrounding a manufactured nature ideology that humans possess, claiming that it is merely a “reflection of our own unexamined longings”. (pg 69)
In his text, Cronon analyses those unexamined feelings and the conclusion is an unexpected one.

Throughout the text, Cronon relentlessly shakes up the reader to get out of whatever comfort zone they are nuzzled in when it comes to nature, and to think deeper as to WHY those ideals are present. Reading Cronon’s thoughts and historical parallels is eye opening and heart wrenching -

do we love nature or are we brainwashed?

Cronon shows examples of humanity’s behaviour and assosciations towards nature and the contradiction in that relationship.

By the 18th Century, humans had cathedrals and manmade horizons to adorn. Landscape was about how man had ‘scaped’ the wretched land below it and made it fruitful and useful. The Bible certainly impacted how nature was perceived. The wild was heavily associated with devilish deeds, Jesus was frequently taken “into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1-25) and that would make anyone think twice before stepping into bushery.

Impressionism paintings in the 1800s were visualising nature as an untamable beast. J.M.W. Turners painting is an aweful/some rendition of an unstoppable force against weak humans.

Turner’s, Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead.

Longing for wilderness is unnattainable paradox because the closer humans get to the wild, the less wild it gets and the further from nature it is.

Bill McKibben’s The End of Nature, colloquially the first global warming book for the general audiencein 1989, illustrates how the world is unrecogniseable, “nature has died” (page 82) states Cronon as a summary of the book. Humanitys obssession with interacting with the wild has left us a corpse of what once was.

What was once “a sea of orange” became trampled dry soil. In numerous desintions in the UK alone a social media swarm is an issue, visits to picturesque locations by selfie-zombies leave landscapes forever changed.

Cronon states that humans longing for the wild came about from “the creation of very particular human cultures at very particular moments in human history” (pg 69) and essentially this is saying that there is no innateness to our yearning for the wild. the expeirence we are looking for isnt there, because it is synthesised. Christian ideas about the wild swayed culture throughout humans history, Christ’s desert retreat was an experience devout Christian’s sought after for themeslves- nature was “sacred” (page 73)

These comparisons break apart the idealogy of dualism between the untamable wild and the polished urban. People searching for the ‘escape’ into nature are more part of a constructed ideology than a profound otherness. This contruct of the sublime and the frontier, each from different origins but both heavily associating the wild with culturual symbolism.

“modern environmental movement is itself a grandchild of romanticism and post-frontier” (page 72)

It makes one wonder if the solution is to overrun the wild entirely and wipe out humanity, or to simply give in to the earth and become nudists.

i cannot conclude still, but now i know i have this conundrum.

It is a compelling text that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth but a smile in the face.

Humans invented this relationship with nature as a projection of what they cannot have

because they are the downfall of it -

can humans ever be living in nature as one?

It appears everywhere humans turn, disaster comes knocking.

what can be said about this?

what can be done about this?

Curiousity did kill the cat and now the planet is on fire and freezing at the same time.

References:

Cronon, W. (1995) The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature, New York, W. W. Norton & Co. Accessed at: https://www.williamcronon.net/writing/Cronon_Trouble_with_Wilderness_1995.pdf

Shaw, P (2014) Landscape and the Sublime, available at: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/landscape-and-the-sublime. LAst accessed 1 January 2022

Turner’s, Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead. Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/romanticism/england-constable-turner/a/j-m-w-turner-snow-storm

[secondyearvalerie]

Notes