We shape our physical surroundings
1. We often alter and change the physical surroundings to suit our practical lifestyle needs.
- Malouf’s comments
2. We also reshape the physical landscape in accordance with our mental, emotional and psychological needs.
- Aboriginal mythology
- Similarly, we often reshape our physical environment to reflect our emotional needs: D H Lawrence’s poem
- Our relationship may be ambiguous: Black Saturday victims
3. We shape and reshape our physical surroundings in a way that suits our views and values about ownership and conquest. For example, we shape the land in ways that reflect our view of our place in the world, that provides security. This often reflects who we are.
- Robert Frost’s poem, Mending the Wall
- Different views between aborigines and settlers about the land
Imagination shapes our response to the landscape
1. Our physical needs often shape our spiritual needs as we reimagine our place in the world
- Spiritual song of the aborigines
- Likewise, we often reimagine our physical relationship with the land as we seek to fulfil our emotional and psychological needs.
- Vegetable patch…
2. Often we see the world and our landscape as a dark, desperate and aggressive place as a response to the tension and agony in our own lives.
- D H Lawrence – literary device… metaphorical reflections of anxiety, anger and violence
3. Through our imagination, we often seek to go beyond our literal, narrow and physical confines. Our relationships with land often reflect our vision of ourselves that may be broad-minded, creative and challenging, embracing and fearless. Or (it may be fearful and narrow-minded)
- Mending the wall
Return to Summary Page: Imaginary Landscapes