The practice of return

The word Topophilia, means an emotional bond between people and places. With its roots in ancient Greek, topos means place and philia means the love of a place. The term became popular with its use by the poet W. H Auden to refer to those places he regarded as sacred. He was referring to his love for the rugged landscapes of Iceland.

In 1974 the term was picked up again by Yi Fu Tuan, a Chinese American Geographer. He spoke about how people understand places as being merely physical locations although they are more about human experiences, memories, nostalgia and identity. Tuan felt that this was especially true with places we emotionally connect and frequently visit.

This reminded me of all the places that hold special meaning for me. Places that I have visited and revisited over the years. As the images appeared in my mind one stayed a little more than the others. Perhaps it is because it is there that I have always felt the unhurried joy and contentment of doing nothing. It is a place that I have immensely enjoyed observing and photographing.

Micheal Kenna, one my favourite photographers, once said: You don’t take a photograph in one visit; sometimes you have to return many times before a place reveals itself. Kenna’s visits every year for over two decades to Hokkaido in Japan is a testament to this statement. Through the Hokkaido photographs Kenna captured his own personal experiences.

While I was thinking about the felt need to return to a place, I was also reminded of Henry David Thoreau who continued to visit Walden Pond regularly even after his two-year stay in a small cabin next to the pond. I think revisiting a landscape deepens ones’ poetic understanding of it. The practice of such a return connects us to the spirit of the place.

My Topophilia is with a public beach place located in another city, that I visit every year like an annual pilgrimage! I seem to have developed an emotional connect with it and every time I am there, I find that I am at peace with myself and the world.

Thanks so much for being here and engaging with my post.