In her essay Mickey, Minnie and Mecca; Destination Disney World, Pilgrimage in the
Twentieth Century Cher Krause Knight declared that all pilgrimages, whether
secular or ecclesiastical share the basic component of a journey, that of
achieving a specific goal. Always spiritual and usually physical most
pilgrimages are said to be centripetal, a journey that tends to move towards a
centre. Such a notion Knight states conforms to French ethnographer and
folklorist Arnold van Gennap’s (1873-1957) tripartite model concerning the
rites of passage; separation from the home community, transition or liminality,
and reincorporation into society. For Knight Walt Disney World, a place where
“time and space are collapsed in eternal, freeze-dried (much like Walt Disney
is reputed to be himself) images of American culture” should be included among
the secular pilgrimages of the twentieth century. Other sites include Lenin’s
tomb, the Vietnam War Memorial and Elvis Presley’s Graceland .
Fig 1 M King “Caroline, Master of
Ceremonies, Paris” March 2012
The term liminal derives from a Latin
word meaning “a threshold”. Liminality refers to a conscious or unconscious
psychological, neurological or metaphysical subjective state, of being on the
“threshold” of or between two different existential planes, as defined in
neurological psychology, as a liminal state and through the anthropological
theories of ritual by van Gennap and British cultural anthropologist Victor
Turner (1920-83).
Developed by van Gennap and later by
the Turner, the term liminality is used to “refer to in-between situations and
conditions that are characterized by the dislocation of established structures,
the reversal of hierarchies, and uncertainty regarding the continuity of
tradition and future outcomes”. (Horvath et al, 2009)
In 1909 van
Gennap published his Rites de Passage,
a work that is considered essential to the development of his concept relating
to liminality in the context of rituals in small scale societies. In
identifying various categories of rites van Gennap distinguished between those that signify transitions in the passage of time and those that result in a
change of status. Van Gennap placed a particular emphasis on rites of passage
and claimed that “such rituals marking, helping, or celebrating individual or
collective passages through the cycle of life or of nature exist in every
culture, and share a specific three-fold sequential structure”. (Szakolczai A,
2009 p. 141)
Van Gennap’s
three fold structure consisted of
·
Pre-liminal rites (or rites of
separation)
·
Liminal rites (or transition rites)
·
Postliminal rites (or rites of
incorporation)
Pre-liminal Rites
The initial
stage of pre-liminal rites or rites of separation involves a metaphorical “death”.
The participant is forced to leave something behind by breaking with previous
routines and practices.
Liminal Rites
These rites involve the creation of a tabula
rasa, a blank state, through the removal of limits and forms which were
previously taken for granted. These rites consist of two essential
characteristics.
·
The rite must abide by an arranged
sequence, where everybody knows what they are to do and how.
·
Everything must be done under the
authority of a master of ceremonies.
The destructive
nature of this rite allows for considerable changes to be made to the
participant’s identity. This is
the stage where transition takes place implying a passing through the threshold
that distinguishes between two phases which is characterized by the term
liminality.
Post-liminal Rites
During this
stage the participant is re-incorporated back into society with a new identity,
in
An anthropological
ritual, especially a rite of passage such as my 40th birthday was said
by Turner to involve some change
to my self. In the first phase, that of separation, some kind of symbolic
behavior signifies my detachment from an earlier fixed point within my social
structure. My status becomes liminal and through this situation I live outside
my normal environment, questioning my self and “the existing social order
through a series of rituals that often involve acts of pain: the initiants come
to feel nameless, spatio-temporally dislocated and socially unstructured”. These
liminal periods are deemed both destructive and constructive meaning that “the
formative experiences during liminality will prepare the initiand (and his/her
cohort) to occupy a new social role or status, made public during the
reintegration rituals”. (Thomassen
B, 2006 p. 322)
Through his work Turner became more aware that liminality “...served not
only to
identify the importance of
in-between periods, but also to understand the human reactions to liminal
experiences: the way liminality shaped personality, the sudden foregrounding of
agency, and the sometimes dramatic tying together of thought and experience”. (Thomassen
B, 2006 p. 322)
Turner believed the qualities of liminality are necessarily ambiguous and through such
Turner believed the qualities of liminality are necessarily ambiguous and through such
I thought I was just going to Paris
For me, my
pilgrimage defined as a journey made for sentimental reasons focuses on Paris , France Eiffel
Tower
My goal was to achieve something more
than a new experience to mark the occasion, it was to also escape from my
surroundings, to be in a city of strangers where my birthday would slip by
relatively unnoticed, where I would not be the centre of attention and not be
made to feel forty.
I feel that my desire to get away has
a subconscious relationship to Van Gennap and Turner’s discourse on the rites
of passage. Caroline has organised everything fulfilling the role of Master of
Ceremony, the animals are sorted out and my sister has kindly offered to drive
us to the pick up point. (Fig 1) Everybody seems to know what to do and I am
grateful. Potentially it is a time to reflect and scrutinize opening myself up
to the possibility of new perspectives.
Fig 2 M King “Imdugud, Down End, Croyde” March 2012
Soft, silky waves peeled along the sandbank somewhere around Down End I
say somewhere because I was surrounded by a heavy mist. (Fig 2) I felt as
though I were paddling through Acheron, the Greek “river of woe”. With no site
of the beach, the rocks or any other point of reference it was disorientating.
Occasionally someone else riding some form of wave craft appeared out of the dense
mist. They were few and far between. There was no wind and the only sound was
the waves breaking on the shore. If I was sat out the back it was only because
no waves broke beyond where I sat. How far out I was sitting was a mystery
until a wave rolled in.
When I got out of the sea and walked up the beach I walked out of the
mist into bright sunshine. I felt as though I had crossed my first threshold.
Tonight I leave for Paris ,
France
Monday 12th
March 2012
Fig 3 M King “Coach Ride” March 2012
I’m sat in one of those liminal spaces, the lounge at the Eurostar
waiting to board the train, prior to that it was the coach journey from
Somerset into London, followed by a tube ride to St Pancras station. (Fig 3 and
4) Divorced from my normal social structures the spaces float past like the
humdrum, monotonous rhythmic clatter of a train ride. People wander past at
varying speeds wheeling their cases about them, a hub of transition. Moving,
waiting, moving, waiting and so the chain continues in a linear, centripetal motion
towards the capital city of Paris
Fig 4 M King “Tube Ride” March 2012
The thing about places of transition is the repetitive nature of
everything. The lounge feels like a dead space, a dead zone. I’m living in a
Hopper painting. (Fig 5)
Fig 5 M King “Eurostar Lounge, St Pancras Station, London
A new experience today suitcases with castors that spin 360 degrees
allowing me to move my case gracefully about me, a dance around the stations
and lounges of my journey, simple things.
As I board the train I am conscious yet again of the work of Hamish
Fulton and his notion that the experience of a walk or in my case this journey
cannot be conveyed in a photograph. All you can convey is a state of mind. My
senses are on overdrive trying to take it all in, trying to record and convey
my journey in terms of van Gennap and Turner’s discourse on rites of passage.
Yet whilst I am seeing the countryside drift past, looking down the aisle of
the train, listening to the conversations about me, smelling the air, tasting
the cool refreshing beer, feeling every surface I touch (and often thinking I
need to sanitise my hands) I think how can I convey all this. I soon come to
realise that if I continue with this pressure I will forget to relax and simply
enjoy the experience. What matters is now the rest can be left to memory.
As you move through the English countryside from London France London
Eventually we settle into the hotel and stretch our legs. Being in the Latin
Quarter means we are within walking distance to almost wherever and so I begin
to experience the magnificence of Paris
Fig 6 M King “Notre Dame, Paris” March 2012
I know I cannot convey my experience even Caroline sat next to me cannot
feel what I am feeling or read my thoughts. The sun is shining, the sky is blue
and we are sat on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris Paris
Fig 7 M King “Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris
Fig 8 M King “View from the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris
Fig 9 M King "Le Grande Bierre” March 2012
Wednesday 14th March
2012 – My Birthday
Today
I am 40 years old. Paris Fulton
The only way to experience walking up to the
Louvre, through the gardens to the Jau de Paume, seeing the Eiffel Tower for
the first time in the distance through the city haze amongst the splendor of
the Arc de Triomphe, the Grand Palais or the Place de la Concorde is to visit. (Fig
10 and 11) Yet it is more than just experiencing these sites it is as Krause,
van Gennap and Turner posit a pilgrimage, a spiritual and physical journey
which mark and celebrate a passage through the cycle of life.
Fig 10 M King “View to the Eiffel Tower , Paris
Fig 11 M King “View to the Arc de Triomphe, Paris” March 2012
I had a dream last night relating to
a visit the previous day to an exhibition by the architect, sculptor,
photographer, blogger, Twitterer, interview artist and political activist, Ai
Weiwei. The dream concerned a picture I had made of him entitled, I believe
“(Mis)-appropriated pictures of Ai Weiwei”. In the dream Weiwei challenged me
wanting to charge me for using his name in the image so I said does that mean
you pay so much towards the Han Dynasty for using their name in an image. (Fig
12) What this means I have no idea but of all the images within the exhibition
this series stood out. He seems disaffected in his reaction to dropping the Han
Dynasty urn but I disagree. His toes on is right foot seem to convey a moment
of feeling that conflicts with the appearance of detachment that his face
conveys.
Maybe the dream relates to the fact
that I did take some covert photographs and Caroline who wanted to take a
picture of me listening to some dialogue through headphones got told off. She
was also told off for touching a picture which at the time made my stomach
tighten with despair but shortly afterwards made me laugh.
The over-riding experiences of today
have been dinner at the Eiffel
Tower
Fig 13 M King “Eiffel Tower , Paris
Fig 14-18 M King and C Hooper “58 Tour Eiffel, Paris
Fig 15
Fig 16
Fig 17
Fig 18
Fig 19 M King “Catacombes de Paris"
March 2012
Fig 20 Hooper "Lunch at Galeries Lafayette” March 2012
Saturday 17th
March 2012
Home.
If I could take one effecting memory away from this disorientating,
culturally intense journey it would be the painting by Paul Delaroche “The
Execution of Lady Jane Grey” (1833).
Seeing this painting in the Louvre was
extraordinary. Its affect did not necessarily transgress onto Caroline but I
guess that sums up the whole journey. Everyone’s experience is unique and
personal.
I
have passed through the metaphorical threshold of my thirties into my forties
and when I write that I feel…something. I cannot think of it as being old but
the transition was not as difficult as ten years ago when I felt very
self-analytical and depressed.
Fig 21 C Hooper “Portrait of Mark King, Paris
As
for my re-incorporation back into society I had a cup of tea with my sister and
her family and later with my mum to chat about our holiday for the rest I’m
hoping that I have been gone long enough so that I can just slip back into life
as if nothing has happened. Whilst everything has changed, everything remains
the same.
Throughout
Paris
Fig 22 M King “Musee du Louvre, Paris” March 2012
Fig 23 M King “Saint-Michel, Paris” March 2012
Fig 25 M King “View from Bridge, Seine, Paris
Fig 26 M
King “View from Bridge, Seine, Paris
March 2012 March 2012
Fig 28 M King “View to Palais du Luxembourg”
March 2012
Fig 29 “Catacombes de Paris” March 2012
Fig 30 M King " Catacombes de Paris" March 2012
Fig 32 M King "View from Bridge" March 2012 Fig 33 M King “Rue de la Colombe, Paris” March 2012
Fig 34 M King “View to Notre Dame, Paris” March 2012
Fig 35 M King “Bridge” March 2012 Fig 36 M King “Seine, Paris
Fig 37 M King “Bridge, Paris
Fig 38 M King “Musee du Louvre, Paris
Fig 39 M King “Eruostar ,
France
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Homas P, 1979 Jung in Context
London
Horvath A, Thomassen B, and Wydra
H, 2009 Introduction: Liminality and Cultures of Change (International
Political Anthropology
Perlmutter D and Koppman D, 1999 Reclaiming The Spiritual in Art: Contemporary Cross-cultural Perspectives Albany: University NY Press
Perlmutter D and Koppman D, 1999 Reclaiming The Spiritual in Art: Contemporary Cross-cultural Perspectives Albany: University NY Press
Szakolczai A, 2009 Liminality
and Experience: Structuring transitory situations and transformative events
International Political Anthropology
Thomassen B, 2006 The
Encyclopedia of Social Theory London
Turner V, 1967 The Forest of Symbols
Ithaca , NY : Cornell University
Turner V, 1969 The Ritual
Process Penguin 1969
All images copyright to
Mark King
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