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We want our view and eat it too

Date

2011

Authors

Brazee, Tammi Lynn, author
Yust, David E., advisor
Sullivan, Patrice M., committee member
Coronel, Patricia D., committee member
Huyvaert, Kathryn P., committee member

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Abstract

How do we amuse ourselves in America's most beautiful places? The relationship that many Americans have with the natural world is one of awkwardness and detachment that is manifested in the way we vacation in and tour around National Parks and other naturally beautiful places. Culturally instilled perceptions of place and a frantic pace to see it all keep many circulating around the edges of the natural world rather than experiencing it in more intimate ways. Many have a distanced appreciation for a beautiful natural landscape, especially those iconic views that are recognizable from ubiquitous travel brochures, postcards, posters, books, and calendars. They inspire awe and appreciation, but we soon shoot our photograph and quickly move to the next panorama so the view becomes a film, flashing by frame by frame through our vehicle's windows. Kitschy tourist stops, amusement parks, golf courses, shopping centers, restaurants, or funky little coffee shops and pubs bring urban pleasures and comforts to our experience of the natural world. Our behavior exposes several underlying tensions that exist in our individual and collective psyches: the tensions between conservation and consumption, observation and immersion, and the natural and artificial. My intention is to visually investigate these tensions by exploring the roads we build, the parks we set aside, the objects we place within the natural landscape, and the activities in which we participate, often pushing these into the realm of the ridiculous in order to raise questions about what we might do if we could. As a society we simultaneously want a world filled with beautiful landscapes and a comfortable lifestyle. However, our current way of life demands a high rate of natural resource consumption that destroys precious ecosystems, which by association destroys the beautiful view. We want the best of both worlds; we want our view and to eat it too. My work is aimed at visually exploring this paradox and the tension that exists when a society tries to reconcile competing desires.

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Subject

conservation
consumption
environment
nature
painting
sociocultural
National Park Service

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