Place
Noun
1. a particular position, point, or area in space; a location.
“I can’t be in two places at once”
2. a portion of space designated or available for or being used by someone.
“they hurried to their places at the table”
I have used this word unthinkingly for years, yet looking at this definition I am surprised. There is no mention of any material, physical features, not even the word land is used, and no mention of the ground or terrain or the earth. I always thought of the word place having connotations of being rooted to the ground, to the earth, and yet the word ‘space’ is used where ‘ground’ could have been. It seems like a ‘place’ is more of a floating, abstract idea.
What is also surprising is the second definition refers to place as a human resource.
When I think about it it makes sense. A ‘place’ is always somewhere with a human context. It’s either used by humans, as the location of a home, a park, or a hiking trip etc, or a ‘place’ is imagined by a human. It would feel strange to say ‘that place is where the lizards live’. Somehow it feels off to refer to a non-human location as a place. Whereas ‘that place is where my friend lives’ feels fine.
I’m not so convinced that the word place is fit for describing my practice anymore. Using the word place implies that the location I am portraying in my painting is an aesthetic ‘space’ and a resource, purely for my human use. I think I need to find a new word to use instead of place. A word which acknowledges the more-than-human world.
Land
Noun
1. the part of the earth’s surface that is not covered by water.
“the reptiles lay their eggs on land”
2. a country or state.
“the valley is one of the most beautiful in the land”
Land has two very contradictory definitions. The first describes a physical, earth-bound location – the terrain, the mud on my boots, the view from a hill, where the food I eat comes from. In this definition land is tangible, it is soil and earth and grass and trees, it is the stuff that nourishes me, what I am from. And a non-human animal is mentioned in the example, there is no insistence of this type of land being only for humans.
The second definition, however is conflicting, describing a human concept loaded with weight and friction. For land in this definition has political and social tension that sits just outside of the room I am typing in. Land is what I (aim to) aquire. It is in England a hugely premium item. Land in this context is bound up in disagreements on management – environmentally, socially, culturally. Land is the thing I pay so much to have the privilege to live comfortably on, every month, it is the thing I seek to find belonging, and yet seems so hard to grasp.
Georgina Harris 