Re: Photographs Reading Us?

Matthew Hill (mhhill@WATARTS.UWATERLOO.CA)
Sat, 6 Jan 1996 09:49:35 -0500

On Sat, 6 Jan 1996, stacey a ayeh wrote:

>
> Why do so many people the world over, feel very moved when they see images
> of the wild, sun sets, mountains - Is it to do with collective memory and
> perhaps the wish to go back to a forgotten paradise?
>
Query - Is this indeed true of people from non-western backgrounds? I
have frequently read that this reaction is a product of the western
romantic movement of the last couple of centuries.
In my own incidental observations in a couple of West African
cultures there was no particular interest and sometimes a bit of bafflement
about what I found so absorbing in such phenomena. I must admit, of course,
that that reaction is not unusual in 'western' folk.

Matthew Hill (mhhill@watarts.uwaterloo.ca)