Limited Encounter
A human’s existence as Heidegger defined is ‘Being-in–the–World’. Therefore, human and its environment are not just two existences with profound bounds; they are one united ‘being’. Thus, we have an essential and existential relationship with the environment around us. From the perspective of ancient human, landscape was a place for dwelling. As Heidegger defines, the nature of dwelling is:” To remain and to stay in a place, and to remain in peace... To dwell, to be set at peace, means to remain at peace within the free sphere that safeguards each thing in its nature”. (Heidegger 1954)
Before the modern era humans had a sustainable interaction and a symbiotic relationship with their environment. For instance, traditional architecture and urban design of Iranians or life style of indigenous people in North America for thousands of years caused no harm to their environment. In the modern age, however, humans consider landscape as a resource. They alter landscapes, deplete resources, and leave remnants to be passed one after another. The relationship between individuals and landscape has changed as well.
Nowadays, our encounter with landscape is limited. Either while commuting or when taking a vacation, we are always passing landscapes and our encounter with it is instantaneous, thus, shallow. We are unable to look at each scene more than a moment, let alone dwelling in it. The ties between humans and landscape are weaker than the past. The significance of paying more attention to landscape and its relationship with humans is obvious in a time that global community is facing with various environmental crises and environmental ethics is a point of controversy today.
Time and space are two essential elements in photography. “In all photographs, we have the same act of cutting off a piece of space and time‟ (Metz, 1985). In this project I try to expand the space and time in the photos to metaphorically increase the encounter of viewer and landscape. To approach this idea I take photos while travelling by train or car. I created a sense of movement rather that resting or dwelling, to represent contemporary humans’ attitude toward landscape in each image. Focus of this project is on our fleeting interactions with landscape and an attempt to expanding these relations through extending space and time of our encounter with it.
