READING A LANDSCAPE

Abstract

I have traveled often through the streets of my country by car, motorcycle, bicycle and on foot, and each time the landscape has always accompanied me like a faithful companion. Whenever I stopped to look at this land, whether up close or from afar, I continually see with eyes scrutinizing every detail of every corner. There is an irresistible attraction that has always pushed me to immerse myself in that view, as if it was a gentle reminder to enjoy that beauty. The landscape does not exist by itself: the landscape exists when people observe the terrain and the landscape becomes subjective based on their personal experience of that view. But the landscape is also objective when it becomes the bearer of the cultural identity of a land and of its people. The landscape may seem eternal and unchanging in its vastness and its characteristics, but in reality landscapes do change like a living being, giving us the feeling of a "permanent transformation" that is the great charm of the landscape. The landscape is like a book that we can read, with its own grammar, signs and meanings, or it is like a musical score with its own notes, rhythms and pitches. Each element that makes up the landscape can contribute to the concept of beauty if it is harmoniously linked with the others. Unfortunately there are too many cases in which human intervention creates grammatical errors in the text or false notes in the music. As a whole, the landscape is a significant indicator of social transformation and the level of quality of life of a community.

Keywords

• Landscape
• terrain
• painting
• natural scenery
• view
• perception