“Everywhen-to-Nature” presented by Coombes
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Virtual (full papers)
Presentation Title:
- Everywhen-to-Nature
Presentation Subtheme:
- Ecologies of Place
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Truth-to-nature, the eighteenth-century forerunner to scientific objectivity, employed nonlinear approaches to time and place to visualise an observed ‘truth.’ From flora and fauna to the depictions of landscape, truth-to-nature combined science, art, technology, and colonisation to visualise not what is seen but what is seen to be true. While nonlinear chronologies, such as the Everywhen, are deeply connected with Indigeneity, this paper explores the less common instances of the Everywhen in Western image-making practices, particularly the spatiotemporal strategies deployed in truth-to-nature representations. This paper will introduce examples of the Everywhen co-opted in colonial representations of Aotearoa New Zealand. By way of creative practice, I propose a provisional methodology that re-enacts the spatiotemporal tactics operating within truth-to-nature representations. This pictorial paper will critique the exploitation of settler-colonial practices through co-opting the Everywhen worlding potential within truth-to-nature images to explore more just and ethical ways of seeing and relating to land.
