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L. Le Dû-Blayo
define environments which are landscapes for these same societies, either in the
way in which they are written, sung, named or painted, or in the way in which they
are arranged or ordered, or even in the way people think about them. Alain Roger
summarises this in the notion of artialisation in situ (e.g.: the art of gardens) and
artialisation in visu (e.g.: painting) (Roger 1997), a notion which offers interesting
prospects for analysing the appearance of new landscape models.
But it should be stressed right away that these approaches have no supremacy
in research; they consider contemplation to be the very purpose and existence of
landscape and the aesthetics of its representations to be the access to its analysis.
Not denying the major contributions that culturist approaches have made, landscapes
can also be perceived by analysing social representations, the daily activities which
fashion the landscapes but which also determine our way of seeing them. “The
process of artialisation proposed by Alain Roger is operational when it applies to
academic culture, that of canonical aesthetics, recognized by the world of Art. But
culture is also knowledge of the surroundings, organised and thought by individuals
and societies, in their relationship with the materiality of nature and with others, as
in the test of the sensitivity of each one to the living environment and the search
for wellbeing” (Luginbühl 2012). Thus, art is not an essential intermediary in the
perception of the landscape; there are other professional practices and other everyday
uses which also give proof of poetic appreciation of the environment. This reinstates
the craftsman and the inhabitant as sensitive participants in the physical and mental
construction of landscapes.
By placing the question of the perception of landscapes in the area of social relations and not simply in cultural representations, we slip into approaches which
in human geography come under the geography of the emotions, and its nonrepresentational thinking which has been developing for the past ten years or so
(Thrift 2007; Wood and Smith 2004). The objective here is (i) to recognize the emotional and affective dimension of human beings as an essential element of individual
and collective human experience, and (ii) to take into account the reality of this
emotion without its being necessarily translated into any kind of representation, in
particular artistic. “Emerging over the past ten years from a set of post-structuralist
theoretical lineages, non-representational theories are having a major impact within
Human Geography. Non-representational theorisation and research has opened up
new sets of problematics around the body, practice and performativity and inspired
new ways of doing and writing human geography that aim to engage with the takingplace of everyday life” (Anderson and Harrison 2010). Divers are not necessarily
great consumers or producers of images of the sea bed, even though these landscapes
inspire in them intense feelings and emotions and their experiences discovering these
surroundings can mark their lives. So, as a preliminary to this modest study of underwater landscapes in comic books, let’s suppose that the existence of representations
of underwater landscapes, even if it is central to the subject, is not an essential
condition for considering the underwater environment as a landscape.
L. Le Dû-Blayo
define environments which are landscapes for these same societies, either in the
way in which they are written, sung, named or painted, or in the way in which they
are arranged or ordered, or even in the way people think about them. Alain Roger
summarises this in the notion of artialisation in situ (e.g.: the art of gardens) and
artialisation in visu (e.g.: painting) (Roger 1997), a notion which offers interesting
prospects for analysing the appearance of new landscape models.
But it should be stressed right away that these approaches have no supremacy
in research; they consider contemplation to be the very purpose and existence of
landscape and the aesthetics of its representations to be the access to its analysis.
Not denying the major contributions that culturist approaches have made, landscapes
can also be perceived by analysing social representations, the daily activities which
fashion the landscapes but which also determine our way of seeing them. “The
process of artialisation proposed by Alain Roger is operational when it applies to
academic culture, that of canonical aesthetics, recognized by the world of Art. But
culture is also knowledge of the surroundings, organised and thought by individuals
and societies, in their relationship with the materiality of nature and with others, as
in the test of the sensitivity of each one to the living environment and the search
for wellbeing” (Luginbühl 2012). Thus, art is not an essential intermediary in the
perception of the landscape; there are other professional practices and other everyday
uses which also give proof of poetic appreciation of the environment. This reinstates
the craftsman and the inhabitant as sensitive participants in the physical and mental
construction of landscapes.
By placing the question of the perception of landscapes in the area of social relations and not simply in cultural representations, we slip into approaches which
in human geography come under the geography of the emotions, and its nonrepresentational thinking which has been developing for the past ten years or so
(Thrift 2007; Wood and Smith 2004). The objective here is (i) to recognize the emotional and affective dimension of human beings as an essential element of individual
and collective human experience, and (ii) to take into account the reality of this
emotion without its being necessarily translated into any kind of representation, in
particular artistic. “Emerging over the past ten years from a set of post-structuralist
theoretical lineages, non-representational theories are having a major impact within
Human Geography. Non-representational theorisation and research has opened up
new sets of problematics around the body, practice and performativity and inspired
new ways of doing and writing human geography that aim to engage with the takingplace of everyday life” (Anderson and Harrison 2010). Divers are not necessarily
great consumers or producers of images of the sea bed, even though these landscapes
inspire in them intense feelings and emotions and their experiences discovering these
surroundings can mark their lives. So, as a preliminary to this modest study of underwater landscapes in comic books, let’s suppose that the existence of representations
of underwater landscapes, even if it is central to the subject, is not an essential
condition for considering the underwater environment as a landscape.