o Does this reveal anything about human nature when it comes to movement, direction, location, or space?
It appears that humans (of many/all nationalities and recorded times) tend to think in quadrants, dividing space, direction, and concepts into 4 individual parts. The dividing ‘lines’ between the 4 parts are often not physical or tangible. They are ever-changing divisions often based on perceptions of where the eyes are facing. The direction the eyes are facing seems preferable to the direction the feet, spine, or hairline is facing.
This makes me think of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. In this story, the main character is a child who is being trained for combat in space with other children. The children struggle with moving in space. They tend to drift and circulate, moving in the opposite direction they intend. Ender figures out how to move by orienting the goal door as “down”. Just like Yi-Fu Tuan talks about, Ender and the other kids become successful at navigating no-gravity space by ordering their conceptual reality based on where their body parts are in relation to a static ‘goal’.
o Why do you think humans turn to words referencing the body instead of words that reference god(s) or animals or objects? What does this tell us about human perspective?
I think this tells us that human perception is concentrated on the eyes and sight. I think this concentration on the eyes and the language that goes with that concentration on sight and body words is mostly taught rather than an innate tendency. I don’t know if that’s true, but it seems to me that we humans limit ourselves and our potential by being mostly concerned with language based on visual relationships. What if we tuned into and located ourselves like creatures who were blind? What if we tuned into and located ourselves in relation to our sense of touch or tastes? What if we tuned into and located ourselves by way of something completely outside of our perceived “selves”?
o How are you defining the space in your Around the Room Drawing? What areas are you giving importance to and why?
I’m currently defining space and giving my attention to the spaces and items that I love or feel a connection to (mostly based on vision, secondly based on experience with). But after thinking about that last question, I’m curious if I would be better served attempting to ‘see’ in a different way. Like maybe giving emphasis to items that feel good to the touch or smell pleasant or have a notable echo. I’m going to explore this line of discovery when I order space.
