"The Innuit word inuksuk means 'something which acts for or performs the function of a person'. The word comes from the morphemes inuk ('person') and -suk ("ersatz" or "substitute")." --Wikipedia
Lucia: Native American cultures, whether in canada or brazil, are often suffused with a subtle and very sophisticated philosophy of the human place in the natural world ... i know that you are well aware of this fact!! :-)
Did you see? Even the words below the image are inuksuk, a cairn.
I accept the shadow more than the light now, and yet I would not have the shadow without the other. These three cairns, their silhouettes, the photo, the aboriginal idea, all these symbols out of the sea are yes substitutes for words that "are not, are never, what we wanted to say . . . "
No wonder, because I think they speak of the eternal, as words cannot. Maybe that is what calls from stones: they are closer to eternal than most other matter.
i never thought to count before. always when i came to look at this i saw two. as i stop to count i see three and then four. the numbers, perhaps, mean something. the two spoke to me of the silence, the eternal and only partnership, god and us, but the four speaks to me of man's place in the world, the marking of our time, family, small stones or words claiming (hoping) existence.
inukshuk, because i say this word a thousand times a year i have felt wrongly and secretly that i have owned the word but i am well reprimanded. we own nothing, not one stone.
many summers ago the children and i stayed at a camp on the island. someone had very painfully and lovingly erected many inukshuks overnight near the water. going to the water in the morning with liam we found his cousin and his cousin's father (my brother, timmy) pelting them down in great disregard. (were they not claiming their own existence through violence?) liam and i are still sad. he recounted the story to me when he saw this photograph. i'm not sure if we are right or wrong in our sadness, or if any of this story matters.
your photography goes into corners of the room pulling from the light and shadows.
erin; this story matters a great deal. how fundamental is this human impulse to leave a trace of ourselves by altering the landscape, even if that means only destruction.... what would culture be like without this drive, or even if we recognized it more often???
Inuksuk: a cairn, a trace, a border-marker
ReplyDelete"The Innuit word inuksuk means 'something which acts for or performs the function of a person'. The word comes from the morphemes inuk ('person') and -suk ("ersatz" or "substitute")."
--Wikipedia
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i should have added that the word innuit, meaning people, is the plural of inuk
DeleteWhat a lovely shot James!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the explanation. ;-)
Lucia: Native American cultures, whether in canada or brazil, are often suffused with a subtle and very sophisticated philosophy of the human place in the natural world ... i know that you are well aware of this fact!! :-)
Delete.
very nicely done, looks like a Chinese letter :) inuksuk - what a great word, may have to throw it into a conversation ;)
ReplyDeleteMarion: it looks like a Chinese letter
Deleteyou're right!!!!!! i hadn't thought of that, but i love the extra dimension you bring to this :-)
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Did you see? Even the words below the image are inuksuk, a cairn.
ReplyDeleteI accept the shadow more than the light now, and yet I would not have the shadow without the other. These three cairns, their silhouettes, the photo, the aboriginal idea, all these symbols out of the sea are yes substitutes for words that "are not, are never, what we wanted to say . . . "
Thank you, from this silent corner.
Ruth: we stack stones for a cairn. eventually the stones scatter and the snow covers them
Deletewe speak, and eventually the silence covers our words
do you know, i have to be careful, or i will love the silence and the snow more than the words and the cairn? ...
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No wonder, because I think they speak of the eternal, as words cannot. Maybe that is what calls from stones: they are closer to eternal than most other matter.
Deletei never thought to count before. always when i came to look at this i saw two. as i stop to count i see three and then four. the numbers, perhaps, mean something. the two spoke to me of the silence, the eternal and only partnership, god and us, but the four speaks to me of man's place in the world, the marking of our time, family, small stones or words claiming (hoping) existence.
ReplyDeleteinukshuk, because i say this word a thousand times a year i have felt wrongly and secretly that i have owned the word but i am well reprimanded. we own nothing, not one stone.
many summers ago the children and i stayed at a camp on the island. someone had very painfully and lovingly erected many inukshuks overnight near the water. going to the water in the morning with liam we found his cousin and his cousin's father (my brother, timmy) pelting them down in great disregard. (were they not claiming their own existence through violence?) liam and i are still sad. he recounted the story to me when he saw this photograph. i'm not sure if we are right or wrong in our sadness, or if any of this story matters.
your photography goes into corners of the room pulling from the light and shadows.
xo
erin
erin; this story matters a great deal. how fundamental is this human impulse to leave a trace of ourselves by altering the landscape, even if that means only destruction.... what would culture be like without this drive, or even if we recognized it more often???
Delete.