果冻传煤

True North : Synchronous North
Christina Seely

This essay examines how both[1] a (re)conceptualization of time, from a linear perspective toward one of simultaneity, can help the public better comprehend the climate crisis, and[2] the potential art and photography have to translate this shift, using the Far North and associated narratives as a site for this exploration. 聽

We all lean into stories to find our way through the thick forest of experience to understand ourselves in relationship to the world. The structure of a singular,聽linear聽narrative anchored in the chronologic has聽long聽provided structured order to time and space. Its consistency, made up of a beginning, middle and end, with a character at its center, has been the bedrock of contemporary Western thinking聽for millennia.聽However聽in contemporary culture, Internet and smartphone-based cultures聽are loosening聽sequential thinking, replacing it with weblike associating聽that generates聽a sense of聽a聽semi-chaotic networks of聽contemporaneousness. Identity, now set against a constant and rapid flux of all-at-once-ness, is battling a culture long rooted in the steadiness of chronology.聽

The Far North is a site of extremes. Its many narratives are most often found in the form of familiar dichotomies. It is known as a land聽of:聽legends and facts, myths聽and data,聽perpetual聽darkness聽and聽endless聽light, and the聽inspiration聽for qualitative (poetic) and quantitative (scientific)聽investigations. The most dominant Western narratives have been laced with tales of survival, human ingenuity, tragedy, perseverance, failure, and a reckoning with God and spirit through journeys taken through the most formidable regions of territory and mind.聽

On the other hand, narratives from indigenous cultures in northern regions rooted in the Inuit Ways of Knowing (IWOK)1聽(violently聽denied by colonialism), are聽,鈥�,鈥�, cyclic, interdependent, and鈥�鈥痠n nature[2]. As described by Gregory Cajete PhD, scholar of Indigenous Science and Knowledge, IWOK are guided by spirituality, ethical relationship, mutualism, reciprocity, respect, restraint, a focus on harmony and an acknowledgment of interdependence[3]. They emphasize belief in the presence of a spirit in all things, as well as the existence of otherworldly or spiritual dimensions that interrelate with the material world[4]. In other聽words聽they hold space for overlapping and synchronous experiences and time聽scales聽serving as a conceptual framework for a perceptual return to simultaneity.聽

As the North is a key barometer for the impacts of global warming, the relational framework of聽IWOK reinforces the deep need for humility in the Anthropocene. These integrated聽primary聽understandings of the region amplify deference and聽supply聽a聽desperately聽needed counterpoint to those tales of the heroic (foreign) explorer, necessarily聽quelling聽the human ego established by Western thinking and聽its related aggressive and destructive聽behaviors. IWOK stories are poetic tales built out of the clarity that we are a species living聽within聽the full-layered interconnection of it all. They聽fully and symbiotically聽register the sensitive nature of Arctic systems and the understanding that the most important form of practical and spiritual聽intelligences聽is born out of working with and tending to its harsh fragility.聽

While our increasingly mediated ways of experiencing reality challenge and destabilize our temporal understanding of ourselves, this paradigm shift (or rather a return to the 鈥渙riginal鈥� paradigm) is pertinent in allowing a deeper connection to understanding the abstract complexities of climate change. Synchronousness sets the human experience, not as a singular dominant narrative, but as one of many within a range of micro (quantum) to macro (planetary) temporal scales. Synonymous with IWOK French theorist Bruno Latour emphasizes, the anthropocentric constructs of nature and culture have always been conceptually and temporally intertwined, as one cannot be defined without the other[5]. This split conceptualization聽has long dominated and (violently)聽separated聽humans from our true relational position as interwoven into Earth鈥檚 energetic planetary networks.聽This聽(re)integration of聽鈥淣ature/Culture鈥澛爏uggested聽by Latour along with a slew of other contemporary post-humanist philosophers,聽is not only a (re)alignment with IWOK but also with a wide range of indigenous philosophies (as well as threads of Tibetan聽Buddhism,聽Transcendentalism聽and聽Paganism, and it is the basis of Gaia theory). Within the breadth of (re)accepting these perceptions of time and the unified concept of Nature/Culture, we can,聽consistent with these philosophical threads,聽collectively reconcile our understanding of the self as inseparable from the planetary whole聽and will聽more readily come to care for it as we care for ourselves.聽聽

The challenge now is how to bring an attentiveness to the complexity of earth systems,聽their intricate effects and our force within them聽to dominant Western culture, in order聽to聽newly聽comprehend聽an聽integrated Nature/Culture identity in relationship to the climate crisis. The clearest approach is first to honor and rekindle the primordial understanding (IWOK) that we exist as part of a web of ever-evolving inter-related systems. As we transition from thought patterns rooted in chronology that imply聽a(n arguably false sense of our) control over time (and planet) towards a de-patterning of disparate narratives that are often difficult to grasp or relate against each other, we can open ourselves up to new ways of perceiving. We can recognize the interconnectivity and interdependence of many continuously evolving perspectives,聽narratives聽and living forces, allowing an ever-expanding (versus fixed/resistant) position within it all.聽聽

For over a decade, as a visual artist I have been working聽predominately聽in the Far North. I use the factual location of the North and associated metaphors to help translate the complex role humans play within a warming planet. Each聽of my projects functions as its own systemic conceptual platform, and together they form a kind of聽鈥渨orlding;鈥澛燼s Heidegger deemed: a generative process of world making, world becoming and a聽鈥渂ringing-nearer鈥�[6]. They also allow space for Donna Haraway鈥檚 concept of 鈥渕aking-kin鈥�[7]聽which emphasizes redefining our relationships with聽multiple species聽and our role as one species within a聽multiple聽species聽world.聽My works聽offer a range of inter-connective, temporally unrooted portals to consider our intricate and complicated relationship to our planetary home聽and our human and non-human kin.聽聽

Photography is inherently tethered to the temporal, so is an ideal tool to allow us to聽comprehend聽simultaneity聽through its ability to point to both the discreteness and聽edgelessness聽of time. While my works are rooted in photographic media,聽their聽production,聽processes聽and presentation聽are聽vital to grasping their underlying conceptual content. For example,聽,聽made up of a collection of layered photographic prints, complicates our sense of time and transmogrifies the聽melt of the聽Greenland ice sheet and the tropical rainforest into respective circulatory聽and respiratory聽systems, scaling the planetary to the human body.聽聽

In response to the growing concern about the impacts of climate change on the Greenland ice sheet, through travels to the town and surrounding area of Kangerlussuaq, with scientists from Dartmouth College鈥檚 Institute of Arctic Studies[8],聽I聽explored聽the kinetic life of the ice sheet melt聽by聽using unconventional photographic techniques聽to聽conceptualize it as聽a circulatory system.聽Concentrating my camera on the accumulation and movement of water of this colossal mass of聽Arctic聽ice, the work聽follows a path from the icesheet聽until it聽reaches聽a nearby fjord. The melt聽starts as聽glistening drips聽that eventually聽cumulatively builds聽to an exponential force聽powerful enough to聽effect聽the stability of Earth鈥檚 network of ocean currents, i.e., its circulatory system.聽聽

Based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Station[9], on the island of Barro Colorado in the Panama Canal, I used the same techniques to translate the tropical rainforest as a kinetic living, breathing planetary system, situating the viewer within the respirating motion of the canopy聽tracing聽the kinetic interplay of light and air聽as breath聽within this living system.聽

The photographic works聽Flumen聽(current), from the ice sheet, and聽Respiro聽(breath), from the rainforest, are made up of two photographic prints of differing聽exposures聽(sharp聽and soft edged).聽One print is overlaid onto the other, so the translucent聽archival聽vellum聽print聽on top reads as a kind of skin and allows the image on the聽archival聽inkjet print on the bottom to blend through. This聽enhances the spacial dimensionality of the velocity of aquatic flow and the 鈥渂reath鈥� of the forest. Combined, the print-pair generate a sensation of dimension, trace and motion as a viewer moves past the large framed pieces[10]. The full installation of聽Terra聽Systema聽is designed to suggest time鈥檚聽edgelessness聽and to inspire an uncanny sense of awe through the possibility of global-scaled comprehension and the twinning of the planet with ourselves.聽聽聽

Many of my photographic projects offer this loose footing in time but also intentionally interrelate our fixed associations with place (Arctic/tropics) to establish an acceptance of global and synchronous narratives. By ceasing to suggest specific temporal edges, encouraging a perception of time loosened from the linear, my projects make room for the viewer to聽interrelate聽 with聽the planetary and聽understand themselves within the overwhelmingness of聽鈥渢he whole.鈥澛營n this, simultaneous storylines and perspectives have a stage for evolving together and within each other. There is room for both聽鈥渨orlding" and for 鈥渕aking kin鈥�[11]聽with all non-human life forms in new ways. With this shift comes an inevitable humility聽with the suggestion of聽relearning聽the self聽and what it means to be human within it all at this tentative threshold in our relationship to the natural world. As we come to聽(again)聽comprehend ourselves not above or outside but聽within聽the interconnectivity of Earth鈥檚 interwoven natural and manmade systems (Nature/Culture), in turn, with renewed and fervent commitment, at a moment of great urgency, we will come to collectively learn to care for it as ourselves.聽

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christina Seely is a visual artist and an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Dartmouth College. She is currently working on a self-designed master鈥檚 in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School considering art as a space of spiritual holding in conversation with science as a way to build more effective climate crisis communication. Her works are exhibiting at the museum from November 5, 2021 - September 4, 2022.