(re)Writing Home: The Experience of Living in Altered Landscapes

This exhibit was born from a seminar in Architecture at the University of Oregon in Spring 2024 that focused on the evolving relationship between humans and landscapes. The seminar organized by Howard Davis and Erik Steiner was headlined by a visit and public lecture by Maksym Rokmaniko, a Ukrainian architect who employs advanced spatial technologies to digitally reconstruct and preserve war-torn landscapes in Ukraine.

Places – and their visual corollary landscapes – produce and preserve memory. They serve as collective assemblages of meaning generated through layers of human and non-human interactions and experiences. A country road, a favorite park, a front porch, or the corner of a room; these places often gain personal significance through their relative stability as we ourselves change and grow.

But periods of crisis remap and disrupt places into altered landscapes where their fragility and our own vulnerability within them becomes more evident. Through this lens, landscapes are not a fixed backdrop to the human condition. Increasingly how we relate to our surroundings is mediated by social and environmental crises, including by way of the air we breathe, the shelter we secure, and infrastructure we build and use.

This exhibition spotlights the explorative journey of students who considered this evolving human-landscape relationship, particularly in Eugene, Oregon. The exhibit features 30 postcards in 4 sets, each a series where an individual student explores their own themes.

Why Postcards?

The act of “writing home” means to put where you are now in relation to where you are from. Beyond depicting Eugene as merely through the mythology of a recreational and progressive haven, these postcards reveal other ways we relate to this place. We wish to provide these as an opportunity for others to “(re)write home” – sending a message to a loved one, or personally reflecting on their experience in their surroundings.

The postcards, designed to be reactive and distributable, serve not only as artistic expressions but also as mediums for dialogue and reflection. They challenge conventional perceptions of space, urging a collective reevaluation of our environmental and social responsibilities.

They are complemented by artist statements and interactive prompts, inviting viewers to engage with the images, reflect on their own spatial experiences, and participate in a wider conversation on these pressing issues.