Sep 22

This image depicts three men sitting inside what looks like a fish house, working together to either rig, or fix a gill net. The three men have a rugged appearance, and seem fixated and perhaps tired by the work they are doing. These clues suggest to me that these men are the fishermen themselves. The clutter of lobster traps, rope, and other fishing supplies in the background of the fish house denote that there is a significant amount of gear stored in the fish houses, and maybe there is more gear to be mended after the net. It would make sense that with using wooden traps and mesh nets comes frequent repair.. The image is a symbol for the camaraderie that the fishermen have with one another. It is not just one of them working to fix the gear, but rather they are all helping out to fix the net to be able to get back to fishing. It also illustrates an aspect of the profession that has not been discussed much in the readings so far: the behind the scenes work. Fishing or lobstering is much more than just going out to catch your targeted species. Just readying the boat and the gear for the trip is a significant task and requires a large chunk of time and energy. The three men do not seem to be interested in one another; they simply seem absorbed in getting the work done. After a long days work out out sea, having to repair gear is not the first thing that these men probably want to do, but they acknowledge that it is a necessity in order to get back to fishing the next day.

Eric Hudson’s work with the New England coast and Monhegan give a fresh perspective on the progression of defining place through art. He immersed himself in the local culture and built up a rapport with otherwise standoffish fishermen and lobstermen because of his seamanship. This connectivity allowed himself to not only portray art with landscape, but also with cultural and historical context. Coffin’s quote on photography differentiates and combines the meaning of Hudson’s art, and gives insight on why his photography is so powerful. He creates a historical representation of Monhegan by documenting the power of the sea, by taking photos from lobster boats, by capturing the culture of the island at a point in time. His image of three men dressing ground fish on the coastline is one that undoubtedly evokes the utilitarian representation that was so unique; it tells a story of the tradition, it is almost busy with stories, but not accidental or harsh. He also captures the aesthetic by creating landscapes and rocky coastal images. The parallel of classic sailing images and glass negatives of the local culture make his art much more poignant. His success seems to lie in his connection of utilitarian and aesthetic features in his photography. I think this is largely due to the fact that many photographs that he took were for future paintings, and he needed to capture the cultural importance while still creating an aesthetically pleasing piece. The boat with two lobstermen washed ashore is both precise and captures the historical significance, but captures the features of what the quintessential coastal painting of Maine often does. I think Hudson’s best work is when he fuses landscapes with Monhegan locals, capturing many different types of landscapes that Meinig describes–nature, system, artifact, history, place.

In Meinig’s introduction of Beholding Eye he states an idea similar to one, that through text and class discussion, we’ve established as true, “any landscape is composed not only of what lies before our eyes but what lies within our heads”. The difference is that previously, we’ve only read and discussed this idea without the use of the word “landscape” but rather the words “place” and “space”. In one of our first class discussions, we sorted through the differences and meanings of the words “space” “place” and “landscape”. In those times, “space” and “place” took center stage. This piece seems to legitimize the idea and deep meaning of “landscape” and further proves its significance to our interpretation of place. A piece of text that stood out to me was, “It is landscape as environment, embracing all that we live amidst, and thus it cultivates a sensitivity to detail, to texture, color, all the nuances of visual relationships, and more, for the environment engages all of our senses, the sounds and smalls and ineffable feel of a place as well.”( Meinig, 45) This reminded me heavily of Relph’s distinction of the experience of “insideness” and “outsideness” in the human experience of place in Cresswell’s Genealogy of Place. The distinction has to do with “authenticity” meaning, “to be inside a place is to belong to it and identify with it, and the more profoundly inside you are the stronger is the identity with the place” (Relph, 1976, 49)  This same idea of authenticity seems to be important to what Meinig describes “landscape as place” to be. To see and be in a landscape with genuine awareness is the stepping stone for creating landscape into place.