Home
Motherstone
by Sage Birchwater
In 2008, photographer Chris Harris and writer Harold Rhenisch set the bar high with their first high-altitude collaboration, Spirit in the Grass: The Cariboo Chilcotin's Forgotten Landscape, nominated for two BC Book Prizes.
According self-publisher Harris, they have surpassed that effort with Motherstone: British Columbia's Volcanic Plateau (Country Light $39.95), a coffee table book that portrays the majesty of the Central Interior and invites the reader to take an expedition into time; to peak into our geographical beginnings, and wonder how the landform we call the Cariboo Chilcotin was formed.
Motherstone covers a vast region of volcanic activity from the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau, where it buttresses up against the Coast Mountains in the west, to the sub-glacial volcanoes of Wells Gray Park to the East.
"I'm a mountain person,"; Harris explains. "Mountains turn me on. I've ridden through these mountain ranges before, but this time I walked through every inch of it.
"When you walk you feel like you're touching the earth. You feel the energy coming up through the earth.
"I found I was in tears out there. The volcanic landscape is so untouched; so powerful.";
As with most Chris Harris projects, Motherstone began with the germ of an idea years earlier that took on a life of its own. When Harris was on horseback in the 1990s, photographing in the Ilgatchuz Mountains with outfitters, Roger and Wanda Williams, he and fellow photographer, Kris Andrews, decided to take a side hike over a ridge to see what was on the other side. Harris came back with an image of a crater lake nestled in an undisturbed volcanic cone. In fact, it was a tarn in a cirque.
This became the seed for the Motherstone project. "I vowed to go back there,"; he says. "It was the heart of the Ilgachuz volcano. How many people go through there in a year? It was a masterpiece of nature. I virtually don't think anyone has ever been there.";
When he began the actual work of photographing for Motherstone, Harris wasn't sure what the project was going to look like. "All my books are total exploration,"; he says. "I've learned to trust the process. Doors start to open. I just like being out there hiking, physical and free, exploring with the camera.";
Harris decided he wanted to walk the ground he intended to photograph rather than travel by horseback. He hired guide outfitters Dave and Joyce Dorsey, and Roger and Wanda Williams to pack his camp gear and equipment two days into the wilderness. They ventured to three West Chilcotin shield volcanoes, the Rainbows, the Ilgachuz and the Itcha mountain ranges, while he and his wife, Rita Giesbrecht, and friend, Mike Duffy, went by foot.
As a hiker, Harris returned to the tarn that inspired the project years earlier, and noted only slight changes to the landscape, caused by gravity and erosion over a fifteen-year span. For the most part, the natural vista was totally undisturbed except for a possible goat or two.
"No one has walked here,"; he says. "And with every drop of rain or snow flake, or with every freeze and thaw, the Ilgachuz volcano Gallery is re-hung. Nature has not finished creating this masterpiece of art yet.
"It was totally an amazing experience to be up there and feel that energy coming up through my feet and legs.";
Over a two-year period Harris photographed hundreds of magnificent images, then he handed the project over to Rhenisch who came up with the term "motherstone"; as he was driving home to Campbell River from the Cariboo.
"It jumped into my head. The red rock south of Spences Bridge talked to me. It's nice to feel in this vast, empty universe we've got a home. I'm of this place. I am this place speaking of itself. We are this place.";
Going back three billion years, Rhenisch says British Columbia was formed by the drifting of continental plates. Chains of volcanoes formed along stress lines in the western Pacific, drifted east, and smashed into North America.
"Very little research has been done on this region,"; he says. "I spent three months researching to find out what the story was. Everything we have in British Columbia is caused by continental plate movement. Rock is a record of a dance that happens in time.";
Motherstone, according to Rhenisch, is essentially the story of going out to the mountains and walking. "We wanted the book to be the art of the mountains, where the mountains are creating the art. The earth is an expression of itself where you can walk across ground no one has ever walked on before. The earth is seeing itself for the first time through your eyes.";
Both Harris and Rhenisch are adept at pulling back the veil of every-day perception to reveal the essence of what makes the Central Interior unique. Rhenisch uses the scientific expertise of UBC professor Dr. Mary Lou Bevier to augment gut-felt romantic impressions to tell the story of this remarkable place.
"It's an interesting balance-the scientific and the mythological,"; Rhenisch says. "We had to have the science right, but at the same time it's not a scientific book. We had to tell the story of being there. Science couldn't do that.";
With his tenth book, Motherstone, Harris hopes to once more create an awareness of the value of the natural world and the biodiversity of the Cariboo Chilcotin region. Awareness affects public opinion about places,"; he says, "and only public opinion affects change.";
The amalgam of art, science and adventure makes for one message. "The natural world is not something we must set out to conquer and subdue,"; says Harris. "On the contrary, in fact it is our only hope for survival.";
After launching Motherstone at a gala reception in 100 Mile House in October, the duo commenced an extensive, province-wide tour and slide show. Seven hundred signed, hardcover copies of Motherstone ($69.95) were made available. For information, visit chrisharris.com
Sc 978-0-9865818-0-9; hc 978-0-9865818-1-6
In 2008, photographer Chris Harris and writer Harold Rhenisch set the bar high with their first high-altitude collaboration, Spirit in the Grass: The Cariboo Chilcotin's Forgotten Landscape, nominated for two BC Book Prizes.
According self-publisher Harris, they have surpassed that effort with Motherstone: British Columbia's Volcanic Plateau (Country Light $39.95), a coffee table book that portrays the majesty of the Central Interior and invites the reader to take an expedition into time; to peak into our geographical beginnings, and wonder how the landform we call the Cariboo Chilcotin was formed.
Motherstone covers a vast region of volcanic activity from the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau, where it buttresses up against the Coast Mountains in the west, to the sub-glacial volcanoes of Wells Gray Park to the East.
"I'm a mountain person,"; Harris explains. "Mountains turn me on. I've ridden through these mountain ranges before, but this time I walked through every inch of it.
"When you walk you feel like you're touching the earth. You feel the energy coming up through the earth.
"I found I was in tears out there. The volcanic landscape is so untouched; so powerful.";
As with most Chris Harris projects, Motherstone began with the germ of an idea years earlier that took on a life of its own. When Harris was on horseback in the 1990s, photographing in the Ilgatchuz Mountains with outfitters, Roger and Wanda Williams, he and fellow photographer, Kris Andrews, decided to take a side hike over a ridge to see what was on the other side. Harris came back with an image of a crater lake nestled in an undisturbed volcanic cone. In fact, it was a tarn in a cirque.
This became the seed for the Motherstone project. "I vowed to go back there,"; he says. "It was the heart of the Ilgachuz volcano. How many people go through there in a year? It was a masterpiece of nature. I virtually don't think anyone has ever been there.";
When he began the actual work of photographing for Motherstone, Harris wasn't sure what the project was going to look like. "All my books are total exploration,"; he says. "I've learned to trust the process. Doors start to open. I just like being out there hiking, physical and free, exploring with the camera.";
Harris decided he wanted to walk the ground he intended to photograph rather than travel by horseback. He hired guide outfitters Dave and Joyce Dorsey, and Roger and Wanda Williams to pack his camp gear and equipment two days into the wilderness. They ventured to three West Chilcotin shield volcanoes, the Rainbows, the Ilgachuz and the Itcha mountain ranges, while he and his wife, Rita Giesbrecht, and friend, Mike Duffy, went by foot.
As a hiker, Harris returned to the tarn that inspired the project years earlier, and noted only slight changes to the landscape, caused by gravity and erosion over a fifteen-year span. For the most part, the natural vista was totally undisturbed except for a possible goat or two.
"No one has walked here,"; he says. "And with every drop of rain or snow flake, or with every freeze and thaw, the Ilgachuz volcano Gallery is re-hung. Nature has not finished creating this masterpiece of art yet.
"It was totally an amazing experience to be up there and feel that energy coming up through my feet and legs.";
Over a two-year period Harris photographed hundreds of magnificent images, then he handed the project over to Rhenisch who came up with the term "motherstone"; as he was driving home to Campbell River from the Cariboo.
"It jumped into my head. The red rock south of Spences Bridge talked to me. It's nice to feel in this vast, empty universe we've got a home. I'm of this place. I am this place speaking of itself. We are this place.";
Going back three billion years, Rhenisch says British Columbia was formed by the drifting of continental plates. Chains of volcanoes formed along stress lines in the western Pacific, drifted east, and smashed into North America.
"Very little research has been done on this region,"; he says. "I spent three months researching to find out what the story was. Everything we have in British Columbia is caused by continental plate movement. Rock is a record of a dance that happens in time.";
Motherstone, according to Rhenisch, is essentially the story of going out to the mountains and walking. "We wanted the book to be the art of the mountains, where the mountains are creating the art. The earth is an expression of itself where you can walk across ground no one has ever walked on before. The earth is seeing itself for the first time through your eyes.";
Both Harris and Rhenisch are adept at pulling back the veil of every-day perception to reveal the essence of what makes the Central Interior unique. Rhenisch uses the scientific expertise of UBC professor Dr. Mary Lou Bevier to augment gut-felt romantic impressions to tell the story of this remarkable place.
"It's an interesting balance-the scientific and the mythological,"; Rhenisch says. "We had to have the science right, but at the same time it's not a scientific book. We had to tell the story of being there. Science couldn't do that.";
With his tenth book, Motherstone, Harris hopes to once more create an awareness of the value of the natural world and the biodiversity of the Cariboo Chilcotin region. Awareness affects public opinion about places,"; he says, "and only public opinion affects change.";
The amalgam of art, science and adventure makes for one message. "The natural world is not something we must set out to conquer and subdue,"; says Harris. "On the contrary, in fact it is our only hope for survival.";
After launching Motherstone at a gala reception in 100 Mile House in October, the duo commenced an extensive, province-wide tour and slide show. Seven hundred signed, hardcover copies of Motherstone ($69.95) were made available. For information, visit chrisharris.com
Sc 978-0-9865818-0-9; hc 978-0-9865818-1-6
Submitted on October 18, 2010 in By David.
