Questions for a Stony Landscape
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Questions for a Stony Landscape
It was only a matter of time that, in pursuit of glacial boulders, I would come across bewildering constructs in the woods. Along with the familiar stone walls were boulders stacked with small stones, stone piles both tossed and neatly stacked, underground chambers and enigmatic stone walls that seemingly had no real purpose.
The author John Hanson Mitchell posits the concept of “Ceremonial Time” in which past, present and future can all be perceived in a single moment, when the limitations of our Western concepts of time might dissolve ever so briefly into a way of experiencing a place in a grand, sweeping and simultaneous continuum. Ancient peoples living closer to the earth and its rhythms may have been more sensitive to this notion, marking a ritual landscape with structures designed to foster it, noting sacred places or functioning as calendars or memorials. If any of these sites were connected to that, I hoped to document the link with respect, recognizing their fragility.
The realization that there is a local landscape marked with stone structures possibly connected to these ideas was fascinating and, in its extent, surprising. How many years had I wandered these woods as a kid or hiked through the various trails of the region and not noticed? Sure, I knew a few landmarks of note and was aware of the mysterious Gungywamp complex in Groton, but here was much more. Some bore a resemblance to ancient Irish sites we had visited. Some connected to Native American ritual and history, others to colonial agriculture. Some defied simple, or in fact, any explanation. They seemed poised just beyond my ability to understand them either intuitively or rationally.
I set out to photograph them: placed stonework marking the man-altered landscape and its potential evidence as work and ritual, as sculpture and talisman. Fixing them in time during the exposure, ironically suggested the past, present and future together in a frozen moment of contemplation. Photography, as Hollis Frampton pointed out, is an incision in history. In this case, I think, one that creates free passage for an open mind to enter.
All photographs © Ted Hendrickson
The author John Hanson Mitchell posits the concept of “Ceremonial Time” in which past, present and future can all be perceived in a single moment, when the limitations of our Western concepts of time might dissolve ever so briefly into a way of experiencing a place in a grand, sweeping and simultaneous continuum. Ancient peoples living closer to the earth and its rhythms may have been more sensitive to this notion, marking a ritual landscape with structures designed to foster it, noting sacred places or functioning as calendars or memorials. If any of these sites were connected to that, I hoped to document the link with respect, recognizing their fragility.
The realization that there is a local landscape marked with stone structures possibly connected to these ideas was fascinating and, in its extent, surprising. How many years had I wandered these woods as a kid or hiked through the various trails of the region and not noticed? Sure, I knew a few landmarks of note and was aware of the mysterious Gungywamp complex in Groton, but here was much more. Some bore a resemblance to ancient Irish sites we had visited. Some connected to Native American ritual and history, others to colonial agriculture. Some defied simple, or in fact, any explanation. They seemed poised just beyond my ability to understand them either intuitively or rationally.
I set out to photograph them: placed stonework marking the man-altered landscape and its potential evidence as work and ritual, as sculpture and talisman. Fixing them in time during the exposure, ironically suggested the past, present and future together in a frozen moment of contemplation. Photography, as Hollis Frampton pointed out, is an incision in history. In this case, I think, one that creates free passage for an open mind to enter.
All photographs © Ted Hendrickson
Threatened Circle Structure, New London County, CT
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