The River Within

University on Cincinnati, 2021

The goal of this analysis was to take different tributaries along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park and represent how to all are very unique and individual, but all run into the same river. This is representing the different life styles we all live individually, yet we are all connected in life and the connection we all have is struggle. This exercise was to help us understand contour lines in landscape and how we can analyze the relationship between contour lines and emotions expressed in land forms.The goal of my analysis was to take different tributaries along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park and represent how all are unique and individual, but all run into the same river. This is representing the different lifestyles we all live individually, yet we are all connected in life and the connection we all have is struggle.

The Giver

The Relaxed The Struggle The Straight Edge

The Wanderer The Giver

Someone who is putting others’ needs above their own, always opening themselves up to others. This is represented by the two water sources flowing into the larger Colorado River. This is symbolic to opening one’s self up and caring for those around them as themselves. The fluctuations of the contours themselves is representative of someone who is fluctuating their own emotions for someone else

Someone who goes with the flow and is easily adaptable with any situation. This is represented in the landscape by the increased distance between the contours similarly to how one can be okay with staying in one place and doesn’t feel the need to constantly be shifting and changing. However, the swift, sharp curves within the contours represented the adaptability of a relaxed person and how they can flow easily through it all.

The Relaxed

The Struggle

Struggle is the common theme amongst all of these landforms as well as humankind. As the water in the river struggles to move forward when it hits a rock, we also all struggle to move forward at points in our lives. We as humans all live our own individual lives with our own set of restrictions or the lac thereof but every human will struggle with something at some point in their life. The struggle could be internal, a struggle of who we are or who we want to be. The struggle could be learning a new subject, the struggle to love someone, the struggle to make new friends, the struggle to get out of bed each day. We all have struggles and many struggles we go through by our lonesome and never shared with others. These are our victories that are usually not celebrated as they should be. We do not know the struggles one goes through in their life to get to be the person you are seeing today. As we move through life we overcome many struggles, and as we overcome these struggles we grow as a person. We all, like the tributaries throughout the Grand Canyon, face struggles on our path.

The Straight Edge The Wanderer

Someone who does not deviate from the norm. They live in a strict, in line, life style. This is represented in this landscape from the symmetry and linear nature of the landscape.

Someone who is ever changing and shifting. They are always looking for the next adventures. They are free, moving through life without necessarily having aim or purpose, other than to experience as much as possible. This is represented by the contours as they are non symmetrical, and as the water splits the landscapes it rises at different scales. The right most one is a more gentle slope, whereas the left one is a more dramatic slope. As a wanderer is accustomed to the extremes in life they are also welcoming to slow down in parts of their life. The contour lines themselves resemble this as well, as some are straight and smooth while others have more turns within them, as they rise they are ever changing and shifting.