Artist Statement:
Mountain Sides of the Sea is an exploration of ecotourism and how it affects the cities of Cinque Terre, Italy. What I found particularly interesting about ecotourism is the economic value that is created for the city the destination or national park is in and how this affects the local community. Although ecotourism can be successful in protecting and caring for the environment it also can be very destructive to local communities. In some cases ecotourism has gone as far as displacement of local communities that have been working alongside these environments for years to allow for the specific place to be protected. When thinking about this, I look back to how the landscape of Montorosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore all have distinctive terraces in the mountain side. These cutouts that resemble steps are also known as “cian”. The landscapes are centuries old and the people of the land worked alongside the natural landscape cultivating their crops of grapes, olive trees, and citrus trees. Now the landscapes must be maintained to insure that the stone walls do not collapse. These walls, although built by people originally, now provide new spaces that the local wildlife call home.
