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The Human Hand of Eden Todd Ziebarth reviews Imagining Eden: Connecting Landscapes by Lyle Gomes
As I viewed Gomes’s excellent work, two things became clear. First, the sense of mystery in many of the photographs is provocative. What’s on the other side of that turn in the path in Riverway Park in Boston, in that road straight ahead in the Presidio in San Francisco, across that bridge beyond the frozen pool in Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.?
Second, the images of paradise on display aren’t of nature as wilderness, but are rather of nature tamed and shaped by the human hand. Each photograph adeptly captures this coming together of nature and man. Sometimes, it is as simple as a couple of benches and a clearing through the trees in Rousham Park in England. Other times, it is more apparent, such as a winter view in Central Park, with glimpses of skyscrapers in the misty background.
In addition to Gomes’s wonderful photographs, related quotes are interspersed throughout the book as guideposts to these man-made attempts at recreating paradise. Here’s one from Major W.A. Jones in 1883 that captures the thinking behind these attempts:
It is worth noting that the book opens with an excerpt from Milton’s Paradise Lost, and an introductory essay by UCLA geography professor Denis Cosgrove. Both of these may be skipped—that is, unless you are a fan of seventeenth-century poetry or a geography history enthusiast. Milton remains one of the two most impenetrable authors I have read (the other being American philosopher John Dewey). Cosgrove’s introduction was clearly not written for the lay reader and is a missed opportunity to set the stage for what is to come for those of us outside of the academy. Imagining Eden ends, however, with an informative interview with Gomes that provides some perspective on the thinking behind the photographs.
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