Exercise 4.3: A subjective voice.

A subjective voice.

My view of landscape is a simple one and consists of what I see in front of me when when I look beyond the confines of a building.  I could be the view from the the Turner gallery in Margate looking out to sea with the iconic yellow and black marker buoy framed by the vertical window frame.  It could Uluru at dawn or a Sri Lankan beach at dusk.  More likely it is the mundane changing seasons affecting the local fields,woods and sea around Deal where I live.  

A familiar landscape is never the same, as time, weather and lighting make both temporary and permanent  changes.  The Twelve Apostles, a set of sea stacks off Victoria in Australia, are now down to eight.  The storms of 1986/7 reduced a beech lined walk in High Elms Bromley to 15 trees with dozens of others felled by the wind. The local fields are turning yellow with rape seed with the red of the poppies soon to follow. 

When I visit or, even better, revisit a location I try and pick out what has changed.  The closed factory, or public house and the changing fortunes of houses and streets. 

I have visited Sri Lanka twice, once before the tsunami and during the island’s war, and again in 2012 with the war over and much of the tsunami damage still visible.  On the first visit the impression was of a rather tired and time locked  place.  The tsunami left scars on both the landscape and the people but the end of the war made for the largest change.  Sri Lanka was open for business again and had built itself new roads and an infrastructure and was no longer stuck in the 1970s, where the effects of the war had held it.  The driving was as bad but the roads were better.  The country’s change of fortunes had wrought many changes that were mainly for the good and has brought in changing attitudes to how they use their land and how they want the tourist to see it.  Same place but very different landscapes.

Exercise 4.2: The British landscape during World War II.

Landscape For Everyone.

The British landscape during World War II.

This essay is an attempt to view national identity and the history of WW II through landscape. The main points of the essay are:

• The use of landscape was a safe and ready way of building a feeling of common purpose in the British public without employing the fervor of the fascist enemy.
• In 1926 C, F. G. Masterman asked that England be viewed as a series of views each showing the steady development of the  country.  The industrial Revolution was seen as a dark period that threatened the countryside.  This attitude is still with as current commentators view and write about the modern world and the changes within it.
• WW II and the fear of invasion, with the possible ending of rural England as it was, was used in propaganda to unite the country behind the myth of an unconquerable Britain that was based in that mythic rural idyll. 
• Writers at the time compared the the rural strength of England to the industrial madness of Germany.
• In May 1940, as a device to confuse any invading army, all rural sign posts were removed.  This include names on building and delivery vehicles and all reference to distances.  (German civilian aircraft and German “tourists” had already successfully mapped the country but the effort made for a feeling of being at war). 
• Petrol rationing brought a halt to pleasure motoring.  Troop trains, often traveling by night, were send endlessly round the country.  A trip to the country was no longer seen as a pleasure but as just a break from the dangers of living in the more dangerous town or city.  The ideal rural scene now had to be remembered and much was done to not only help the recall of that memory but to also remember the differences between the various areas.
• There grew up two views of the country; the one remembered and the one as seen and altered by the war.  By highlighting this effect it was hoped that the country would be driven to the victory that would unite those two views again.
• The country was displayed in a way that illustrated its variety as well as its differences and one that was achieving success in the war.  This worked on three levels: it linked the past, the artist view, and the recent social reform.  Thus combining three different concepts that were aimed at guiding the country to victory.
• As early as 1939 press photographers were encouraged to mix war themes with landscape by, for instance, depicting child evacuees in their temporary rural setting and backing them up with the message that this is was an opportunity for them to discover beautiful England.  The aim was to show that despite the social dislocation of war England would unite and win through.  Pictures of pre-war England without social content served little purpose and were not encouraged.
• Prior to the war a visit to the country was seen as a healthy pursuit.  Mass trespass movements had started to open up more of the land to ordinary people, despite objections from landowners.  This feeling of joint ownership was encouraged by government as a way of uniting the whole population.
• Picture Post, which before the war ran stories about class struggle in England, pursued stories about the differences between the German fascists and England.   Comparisons were drawn between English boy scouts and the Hitler youth, and a formal Hitler to a relaxed Churchill.  The captions were “Totalitarianism” and “Democracy”. 
• The paper set out demonstrate what the country was fighting for in the way of the accepted freedoms of a civilised country.  Photographs comparing the English society and German society drew upon the stereotypes of a free and pastural England and a rigid propagandised Germany.  This backed up by reference to England’s glorious past of repelling invaders. (The Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans not withstanding).  Dover Castle was used as an example of Britain’s steadfastness.  
• At the same time pictures were being published of England beaches with their barbed wire and other defences and closed to the population for the war.
• The White Cliffs at Dover came to stand for England defence and as welcome beacon to returning combatants. 
• During the Battle of Britain pictures were published showing both gun crews and civilians looking skywards.  This was meant to show how the population was united in both the war effort and in looking forward to a future after victory.

Critical view proposal. Revised.

My first plan was for an examination of the effect of human occupation on Greenham Common, especially that of the RAF and USAF which eventually became the infamous nuclear missile site. As part of this study I looked at the effectiveness of the various peace camps and other demonstrations had on the camp, its closure following the collapse of the old Soviet Union and eventual closure of the camp and its return to civilian use.  That was the plan.

Two things caused me to abandon this exercise.  One,  the story of Greenham Common and the claims and counter claims of the various protagonists was too large to fit within the limits of this essay and the second was my distance from it, which made any worthwhile visit to the site impractical.  I made a number of attempts at this essay but found I was either running out space or becoming embroiled in the politics.

The project I chose was one nearer to home and far closer to my interests.  I chose the changing face and landscape of East Kent as a result of coal mining and associated industrialisation.

Assignment three: Spaces to places.

Assignment Three.

Spaces to Places.

Visit pretty much any city in Britain and its cathedral will be a prominent feature.   They are places of great beauty and significance occupying an important space in British culture and history. 

The spire of Salisbury Cathedral, sitting as it does on a flat plain, can be seen from miles around with an open approach across a wide lawn, Lincoln Cathedral is on a promontory in the centre of the city and has clear access on three sides, and Durham Cathedral standing on its rocky outcrop surrounded on three sides by water dominates its surroundings. 

Canterbury Cathedral is different.  It is built in the centre of the city but is hardly visible from any point.  It hides and teases, showing only glimpses of itself until the moment one walks through the main gate when all is suddenly and magnificently revealed.

It is this game of hide and seek that I wished to investigate by walking round the city and photographing the limited glimpses one is offered from street level.  Many images of the Cathedral are clearly taken from elevated positions or like the painting by Henry Earp at a time before many of today's buildings were erected.

The first image is from University Road up on the campus north of the city.  I went there on a Sunday morning arriving at first light.  A light morning mist shrouded the city and the Cathedral was very indistinct.   I took pictures for about two hours recording the changing light conditions and altering the framing.  The selected image was one taken towards the end of the session which allowed the dark of the building to stand out against the lightening sky.  This is a view that will not have changed since the Cathedral was finished in 1096.  It is the only picture showing the whole structure.

I drove down into town and parked by West Gate.  From here there is no sign of the Cathedral.  I had to walk down to Palace Street to obtain my first view.  The low sun gave a near silhouette which I softened in Photoshop to allow some additional detail. 

The next two were taken from north east arm of Broad Street and are are typical of the views one gets with the main tower with only hints of the rest of the roof area.

A walk into into the south east arm of Broad Street and the City Wall and its fortifications are all that stands between the viewer and the the Cathedral but still it hides from view.  The next two images illustrate this nicely.

I know from an exploratory visit the previous week that trying to see the Cathedral from Burgate or St. Georges Gate is a waste of time so I went up onto the Old Wall and obtained the next two very different images.  The first is what is visible over the bus station and is limited to just the tips of the main tower.  

The second is from the top of the John Dane Gardens Mound and shows all of the roof area but still nothing of the walls.  This as good a view as is available from within the city short of entering the precincts of the Cathedral.

Dropping down into Dane John Gardens gives the next glimpse if the main tower as it appears between two Georgian terraces.

A walk east along Castle Street and St Margaret’s Street takes one back towards the Cathedral and has it framed between the old buildings and shop fronts.  This was now late on in the morning and the crowds were building up.  The last three images were taken on this last part of the walk.

The penultimate image is the view of the Cathedral as one passes through the gate in the defensive wall.  It is the first hint one has of the true majesty of the building and a hint as to its size.

The last is the view one has on entering into the Cathedral Close and leaves one wondering how such a building could be so successfully hidden.

Maps of where photograph were taken from.  

I set out to record the limited views a visiter to Canterbury has of the Cathedral but include a feel of the power that this building has over the area.  It is both unseen and ever present.