Places

1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
The reason I picked this article first of all was because of its theme of being about places. This caught my curiosity, and I wanted to know more. As I read it I am glad I chose this article. This article talks a lot about different places and how people are tied to these places. It makes sense to me the most, because I have seen how people are connected to different places and at what degree they are. Some people like me, are really attached to places and they mean a lot to them, while others on the other hand are not so attached and can’t even call a place “their home” because they don’t feel connected to anything.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
This article, like briefly summarized earlier talks about different places and how closely or distantly people are to places. First the article starts out on talking about different relationships of sense of place. The different relationships include Biological, Spiritual, Ideological, Narrative, Commodities, and Dependent. These stages start from being really close from biological close meaning being born in the place and develop a closeness overtime to the end of the spectrum being independent meaning maintaining a relationship is the aspect of choice result of having either, no choice or severe limitations on choice. Then to go deeper into the “Sense of Place” These are called the different community attachment. They are called Rootedness that are broken into two different categories, cohesive and divided. The other ones are place alienation, relativity, and placeness. Again like stated in the “Sense of Place” the degree of Rootedness also decreases as well. Rootedness in the Cohesive and divided degree means that they are attachments but cohesive attachment is stronger then divided rootedness. By the end of spectrum, the degree called placeness is the least type of attachment. By this type of attachment by definition it states that there is a lack of place-base identification and lack of emotional attachment to any particular places. I believe that these different points of view and different types of attachments are important because they are so relatable in today’s society. I tend to see people who are close to their place and enjoy going back there and then I see people who really can’t call any place they visit a home anymore.
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
I have to say that I really agree with this point of view upon the places and her definitions of closeness and farness of a place. If I were to relate this to a media artist, I would say that I would want to do work around a place that I feel comfortable around or more familiar with. I don’t mind doing work in different areas because I have done it in the past, but it always seems to have more meaning and symbolism when there is familiarity with a place that I would be doing work on.