A rather timely article on UNESCO heritage

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/02/unesco-impotence-world-heritage-status

Some thoughts on local heritage

Some new galleries will be added very soon, but first I want to comment on some additions to my own local UNESCO world heritage site, the Rideau Canal.  The heritage designation includes the nineteenth century fortifications that protected the waterway, and the most notable of these are at Kingston, the southern end of the canal.   Fort Henry, finished in the late 1840’s, is the jewel in the crown.  As a young man 35 or 40 years ago, I had my first camera, a passion for Canada’s early military architecture, and a girlfriend in the Kingston area, so we ended up there frequently.   

I was therefore touched with nostalgia when I recently returned on a Sunday morning.  But I have to say that I came away dismayed - no, that is too strong, but saddened by the changes, and the way the old place has been handled over the years.  I could live with the new, modern presentation centre tucked into the hill near the old hospital site, and maybe I could understand the restaurant patio and wine bar placed on the wall overlooking the lake.  But these concessions to visitors and their money are part of a theme.  Walking around the ramparts, I found that the entire structure, all of the ditch and the branch ditches down to the water, had been surrounded by grey metal fence.  Ok, safety first, but hardly aesthetically pleasing, and certainly not respectful of the entire purpose of the ditch and glacis in protecting the fort.  After all, the ditch is supposed to keep you away from the walls.  It’s a bit ironic that we now need a fence to keep us away from the ditch.  

Looking into the ditch, I found it full of junk.  Cars and trucks, construction equipment, sheds, bits of kitsch left over from the annual “Fort Fright” show on Hallowe’en, it looked more like a run-down rural farm than a National Historic Site.  And the walls themselves, of limestone quarried on-site, had been dubiously ‘restored’ in places, with stones replaced that clearly did not fit the original, either in style or texture.  And everywhere, the exterior has been treated as free space for bolting on the flood lights and wiring and other paraphenalia required for a “modern” attraction.

The whole left me sad.  The overall message was of disrespect tinged with poverty, and an utter lack of any sensitivity to the site itself, and what it represents as a piece not only of Canada’s heritage, but of the world’s.  All that said, I am posting some photos of the ramparts that I took around 1980, knowing that these images cannot be remade now.  And Parks Canada, and UNESCO, if you are listening…  Dresden lost her status because of a bridge, after all.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

In Granada, Spain, a couple of years ago, I came to a realisation.  It was the first time I was really aware that I was visiting one of the nearly one thousand sites world-wide which carry the UNESCO World Heritage designation.   While Granada is very popular with tourists, I found the crowds did not matter.  It simply astonished me with its beauty.  These sites are chosen for very good reasons: they are simply stunning places of history, nature, design, and achievement.  

Following that trip, I began to look back, and realised I had visited a number of other sites over the years, and that they had also been significant places of power and history.  Then I began looking forward, and starting to plan them into my travels.  

It has the makings of life-long project, to visit and record these places of significance for human history and culture.  So, today I am launching two new galleries, one a collection of images from sites previously visited, and one of my most recent visit, to St George's in Bermuda.

These places give me a little hope, that perhaps we humans can pull ourselves out of our difficulties.  When we try, we are capable of astounding creativity.

Quote of the Week

"You curate your own life, which is the canvas you work from." (JW Anderson, Apartamento #14)

New Gallery and Sale on Framed Images

I am adding a gallery of images which I have previously framed and displayed, and I now need to reduce my inventory to make way for some new work.  So I am offering these framed pictures as described for prices between $100 and $150, which is half the original price or less.  Take a look, and if you are interested, let me know.