Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Emily, Jamie Holcombe 986459

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Landscape and Trauma; Public Memorials and Conflict Histories, Dwelling, Belonging, Nostalgia, Solastalgia, Sense of Place

This image depicts an elaborate and clearly heartfelt roadside memorial to “Emily”, which is an extraverted display of sadness and loss that is an increasingly familiar contemporary lament. We know not who Emily was, nor what happened to her. The story is unclear if the tragedy unfolded on the road outside the house, or inside the house itself, thus the house could have been either witness or host to her demise. The composition directs, but most certainly does not invite us via the gate to …

Mandurama Storm, Jamie Holcombe 986459

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Dwelling, Belonging, Nostalgia, Solastalgia, Sense of Place

This urban landscape, Mandurama Storm, highlights our resistance to the forces of nature. The photograph is underpinned by a similar sentiment to artist Laura Glusman, who writes, “the concept of landscape is not an isolated portion of land that exists only to be contemplated, but [is] a being imprinted with the traces of culture, storms, commerce and climate change”.

The image depicts an anonymous building behind a nondescript façade in the main street of a small town. It is of unknown purpose, but appears to be a former business. There are signs …

Two Tides, Jamie Holcombe

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Landscapes of/in Memory: Frontiers, Promised Lands, Lost Edens

This interior landscape finds its only cheer in the idyllic brackish waters depicted in a picturesque painting reproduction. The ideal coastal estuary adorning this space serves to highlight that our interior-orientated habitats often rest uncomfortably at odds with the natural landscape. There was a time when people who lived by the sea measured their lives by the tides, not clocks. Now ruled by the clock however, our working lives are often tied to a different tide, occasionally only punctuated by melancholic reminders, in this case provided by a painting on the gritty …

Coffin Bay, Jamie Holcombe 986459

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Dwelling, Belonging, Nostalgia, Solastalgia, Sense of Place

This landscape, photographed at Coffin Bay, contributes towards a solution to Glenn Albrecht’s solastalgia, which he terms soliphilia. It expresses my concern that we live too much in the shadow of fear and helplessness, needing to reclaim our relinquished responsibility for our own condition. To do this, we must first realise that we are heading towards a demise of our own making. This image metaphorically depicts exactly that, by suggesting that the highway of denial of our ancient rhythms, which carves its way through nature’s own warnings, careers relentlessly towards the …