Amidst the canyons blasted from the rock of Ontario, Highway 69 snakes it's way North. The opposing lanes seperated by the shattered granite backs of whales rising from the deeps, as of islands in the St. Lawrence, atop of which haphazardly stands an ever increasing number of small Inukshuk's. "Returning....from a recent trip south, I counted 93 [inukshuks] between the Georgian Bay Welcome Centre and [Sudbury]. That does not include mounds of rock where Inukshuks likely stood before. " (via) These inukshuks and mounds of rock are erected by "random" people who pull over and stop their cars (which were going 120km/h).
Prayer Flag covered steppes of Mongolia.
Shrine filled mountains of Kyoto.
Inukshuk filled Highway of Ontario.
Some are perhaps built to mark the end of a memorable camping trip, while others like the one built by Phil Andrews are built to commemorate. Mr. Andrews: "built his first Inukshuk last May after his Godfather's funeral:
After noting the creations for years with his family, Andrews said the solo drive back to southern Ontario was an appropriate time to build one of his own. “I had this ‘fill the dreams’ moment where I needed to stop and do it... following his godmother Ginny Farrell’s funeral, Andrews made another Inukshuk. The two structures can now be seen standing next to each other along the road. " (via)
Syllogism:
1.) The edges of Highway 69 are populated with Inukshuks (as well as Christian crosses and Canadian flags)
2.) The Inukshuks are built for various memorial purposes, which might include: memorials to loved ones, memorials to trips/vacations/drives, memorials to a funny collective moment, and circular amemorials
Therefore:
As we drive Highway 69 we drive a Songline -- as of Australia's Aborigines. Memories (memorials) accumulate upon the margins of the road and we create a path, navigated by reciting the story of each Inukshuk. "Are we there yet" she bawled infantilely. "No" you respond parently "we just passed the Farrell's Inukshuks, and are about to pass The Inukshuk That Fell Down Last Fall, so it will be 15 minutes". But, as the meaning and cause of each Inukshuk's existence is unknown, so the Songlines we create are relative: the stones embodying a completely different narrative for every car.
What we decry as 'image' and 'pastiche' from the outside (i.e in supllanting the traditional use/location of Inukshuks into Everywhere Canada) we must laud in the details: the pursuit of 'innocent whim' is a valid cultural move and contains subtle (true and universal) meaning, as of any historical icon or dogma, though it doesn't necessarily agree with the history (which they may or may not have been cognizant of). The motivation is not to use the 'image: inukshuk' as an image of itself, but to use the 'image' to embody an expression of themselves (a symbol).
And we conquer The Tyranny of Image, even as we profane our surrounding's, relentlessly saying: "history was more beautiful, more meaningful, more connected (Pax Romana, Athens and the Golden Age); the future will be more beautiful, more meaningful, more connected (Heaven, Nirvanha)". For Phil Andrews the Inukshuks along Highway 69 now represent a memory of his Godparents -- in building one you engage the collective act of building all Inukshuks, thinking: "Inukshuk = Godfather's Inukshuk = Godfather" -- and for him Highway 69 is understood more subtly and more sacredly.
Though in our era we can't have a doric temple because it is anachronistic (and "pastiche-y"), we can, and do, have perfectly smooth paths, 'worn' through the hard Ontario Rock, stretching across Ontario hills and over lakes and rivers, which hold quanitifiable meaning and visible divinity though they arose from our utilitarian (and for us culturally abnegated) logistic-material necessities. But it is precisely these practical necessities -- the collection of food, water, territorial boundaries, exchange of goods/ideas -- that resulted in the Songlines of the Australian's, celebrating their immutable presence in a landscape and it's presence within them.
Title and quotes via. Photo by Anna-Joy.
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