Certeu writes of ones private space as being the reflection of ones character and daily routines; “This private territory must be protected from indiscreet glances, for everyone knows that even the most modest home reveals the personality of its occupant. Even an anonymous hotel room speaks volumes of its transient guest after only a few hours. A place inhabited by the same person for a certain duration draws a portrait that resembles this person based on objects (present of absent) and the habits that they imply”. The arrangement of furniture, the colour and quality of materials, one’s possession their books and newspapers, the sources of light, the care or negligence of ones space, are all indications of a “life narrative”. The interior space of the ice shack is no less symbolic of the modest and makeshift subculture of the average ice fisher.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
life narrative
Certeu writes of ones private space as being the reflection of ones character and daily routines; “This private territory must be protected from indiscreet glances, for everyone knows that even the most modest home reveals the personality of its occupant. Even an anonymous hotel room speaks volumes of its transient guest after only a few hours. A place inhabited by the same person for a certain duration draws a portrait that resembles this person based on objects (present of absent) and the habits that they imply”. The arrangement of furniture, the colour and quality of materials, one’s possession their books and newspapers, the sources of light, the care or negligence of ones space, are all indications of a “life narrative”. The interior space of the ice shack is no less symbolic of the modest and makeshift subculture of the average ice fisher.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is such a poetic thought Larraine! That even without a collection of 'objects' (like when one is travelling), one's personality is written in space... that we can't escape the revelation of our personal identity, it isn't just in our clothes, our words, our knick knacks, our hairstyles - it's the environment we subconcsciously carve around us... my messy bed, the wall I HAD to paint black, the moldy cup of tea on my dresser, the shape of the room I chose to rent, the stain on the carpet left from a pen that exploded in the heat because my room faces the sun and my walls are not insulated and the curtain was left open...
ReplyDeleteoh there is something else that is lovely in this sentiment, something about the impossibility of disconnecting your identity from the physical world around you, but that's not quite what I mean... something about how we say our bodies and minds are interdependent, and how we forget this from time to time - and this thought should be expanded to include the space around our bodies - the mind, body and space interdependence - and how the space around our bodies is contantly shifting (it shifts when our bodies move, or when our peception of it moves on, or when, as in your ice shack scenario, the environment changes)... it is something I tried to get at in my thesis, but your research is teasing out something deeper, I think
Side note - once I volunteered at a social housing group and visited various units to check for mould. The layouts of the units were identical, but the spaces were so vastly different (smells, textures, colours, furniture or lack of furniture, etc). I guess it's like your ice shack study - it is amazing to see what different individuals make of the same space...
- Bobbie