The definition of the word ‘political’ is “relating to the government or public affairs of a country”. This shows that politics is focused around what is currently happening in a country and the consequences that these happenings will have. Politics also relates heavily to the government, the people who decide what happens in a country through debate, who have the answers to questions such as why are these events happening in our country? The word ‘politic’ comes from late Middle English which comes from  the Old French word ‘politique‘, via Latin from  the Greek word ‘politikos‘, from ‘ ‘politēs‘ meaning ‘citizen’, from the word ‘polis‘ meaning ‘city’ – this shows that politics revolve around the city/country and its current affairs.

The definition of the word ‘landscape’ is “all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.” This includes the way that land changes and the different imprints left behind by changing land as these features are often visible in newer areas of land, such as the foundations of original buildings. Landscape includes all of the visible features of an area of land as well as the parts that are not seen or the parts that happen behind closed doors, such as the businesses or families that occupy land. The word ‘landscape’ comes from the late 16th century from the Middle Dutch word ‘lantscap’, which comes from the equivalent of ‘land’ and ‘ship’.

There is no clear definition for political landscape as every individual seems to have their own interpretation of the concept. To me, political landscape is a genre of photography that incorporates documentary photography to show how land is being used/abused, how land changes over time, how it is protected, what it means to people and why it changes in the way it does. Throughout this project I will be looking at how land changes and develops through the intervention of humans.

An example of political landscape in Jersey is the current situation with the hospital as in where the new hospital will be built. This has been under debate for quite some time and a lot of money has been spent on research and planning with nothing being built yet. Currently, it seems as if the new hospital will be built on the current site.

An example of political landscape on an international level is the struggles in Ireland as ninety years ago Ireland was split in two after people living there went to war against their British rulers. The south became a separate state, now called the Republic of Ireland. But the break-up led to decades of unrest and violence in Northern Ireland, which remained part of the UK. This caused lots of riots and damage to the landscape in Northern Ireland as the atmosphere of the area and in places the buildings were damaged.

To further explore the topic of political landscape I am going to be focusing on how land changes and develops over time through the intervention of humans. One way that I will possibly look at exploring this is through how my house and the land it is on has been destroyed and rebuilt upon by taking pictures of the current state and comparing these photographs with old personal archival photographs including some dating back to 1870. Another route that I could possibly take to explore political landscape is by adopting the same approach but looking at public areas of land and how the government has changed it for better or worse. I think that a perfect site that I could use for this if I pursue it is Portlet where the Butlin’s holiday camp used to be.