{"id":1642,"date":"2018-11-09T16:11:44","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T16:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aislinnthomas.ca\/\/?post_type=portfolio&p=1642"},"modified":"2020-01-17T17:20:54","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T17:20:54","slug":"a-peoples-history-of-the-sublime-mountains-used-to-be-ugly","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/aislinnthomas.ca\/index.php\/portfolio\/a-peoples-history-of-the-sublime-mountains-used-to-be-ugly\/","title":{"rendered":"MOUNTAINS USED TO BE UGLY"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n
<\/p>\n

From the series,\u00a0A people’s history of the sublime<\/em><\/p>\n

Video, 36 minutes 46 seconds,\u00a02018.<\/p>\n

\"mountains3\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"mountains9\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"mountains8\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"mountains6\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"mountians7\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"mountains5\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"mountains1\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"mountains2\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

\n<\/div><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In her book Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory<\/i>, Marjorie Hope Nicolson describes how for most of western cultural and intellectual history, mountains were considered to be blemishes on the landscape, barren and threatening protuberances that were, in short, ugly.\u00a0 <\/span>The book explores the factors that influenced this view and the shift in thinking that took place from 1850-1900. Of course, it\u2019s now common to experience mountains as majestic and awe-inspiring, and unquestionably so. I certainly did.<\/p>\n

A friend recommended Nicholson\u2019s text as I was preparing to leave for Banff in the summer of 2018, where the presence of the mountains outside my window made it difficult to sleep. MOUNTAINS USED TO BE UGLY<\/i> is a video, about 37 minutes in length, of people in front of various mountain vistas in Banff. I asked each person\u00a0two questions:\u00a0 <\/span>What do you think about the mountains\u2026how do they make you feel?, and Did you know that mountains used to be ugly? (Followed by some version of the explanation above.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like TOTALITY<\/em><\/a> the responses were varied. Many rejected the idea that mountains could be ugly, or our view of them a product of the context in which we live. People\u00a0who grew up around or had a close relationship with mountains seemed more likely to be\u00a0unsurprised by the social history of mountains and could sense their potential threat. Some lingered and talked with me for a while.\u00a0 <\/span>Others were eager to leave and seek out a bar, some solitude, the next vista, the summit, or were called by their wedding party.<\/p>\n

MOUNTAINS USED TO BE UGLY<\/a> <\/em>was screened as part of London Ontario Media Arts Association\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Broad Topics: A Matrilineage of Media<\/i>\u00a0series, in partnership with The Museum for Future Fossils<\/a>. \u00a0MOVING MOUNTAINS,\u00a0<\/em>is an accompanying conversation-in-text with\u00a0Ruth Skinner about this video, mountains, and access. An open text document version is available here<\/a>\u00a0and a PDF,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n