Scopecreeping the Landscape

I've been doing some free association and research lately about Canada, the land and the Group of Seven. As I get my nose into a multitude of texts I'm finding myself mentally swimming in information. I'm certainly not drowning in it, but like the Canadian landscape, I recognize that it could at any moment take me to places that may not be safe to go alone.

It does seem that the land really does dominate in Canada. As much as the abstract painters of Montreal's 1950s are attractive and have new roots, when we think of Canada, we are branded with early images of French and English explorers. I guess that's because Canada at 143 years old, is a relatively new country compared to, say, France that has been around for over a thousand years -- or is it? Canada's official age is very Euro-centric that eclipses Canada's richer history. Often Canada is considered as bilingual, that is to say it is French and English, both European languages. Before that it was called KANATA by the natives, and how long were they here? Some say a staggering 40,000 years. Not that young. A horseshoe crab fossil was found in Manatoba two years ago that suggests shallow oceans about a half a billion years ago. So its a no-brainer on who came first here. The land rises victorious!

I think of Canada, and Cartier touching down in 1535 and dig further. Reading of Norsemen and early eskimo and Dorset culture and the nomadic behavior is where my eyebrow goes up. It's the land dictating to the people where and when to be. They are hunting and fishing and gathering seasonally and it's this same behavior that has dominated Canada from its pre-european settlers through to present day. One need not look any further than the ice-shack villages of rural Quebec to see how the land dictates where the people are and when and then what behavior and culture come from that. Again, the land dominates.

It gets me thinking about how the people in Canada have artistically interpreted the land and how it's interpretation has been ritualized. ....but that's for another day...