A Sense of Place"In my beginning is my end. In succession houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended, are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place is an open field, or factory, or a by-pass. Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires, Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth….. Home is where one starts from."
By T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, East Coker
T.S Eliot's description is of a space which is constantly changing, evolving and eroding in an ever changing circle. This view of space is some thing which is familiar in today's society where new houses are being squeezed into every available space and due to work people are having to move more often than the average person did ten twenty years ago. By the end of this verse T.S. Eliot refers to this space as home. How can we possibly associate a space which has changed from all recognition as home, a very special place? The geographer Yi-Fu Tuans remarked in 1976 that "when space feels thoroughly familiar to us, it has become place. Place is something known to us, some where that belongs to us in a spiritual, if not possessive sense and to which we belong".
Read more: A Sense of Place - an art essay about belonging [click]
