Salt Journeys

Here I will touch on some salt routes and journeys that I have stumbled across in recent months.

Firstly to mention the Native American Hopi 'salt route' from the Mesa villages into the Grand Canyon in Arizona. While artist-in-residence at the Canyon last summer, I learnt of this ancient tradition which has both functional/practical as well as ritual aspects. The practice is much less observed today, but formerly, a (male-only) group undertook the journey and brought back much-need salt to the villages. It was also a rich mythic journey through a landscape of the imagination, and a vital initiation process for the young men of the tribe. The nearby Zuni have a similar tradition (journeying to the Zuni Salt Lake).

"...the Hopi Salt Trail to the Grand Canyon is said to have been established by the Pökanghoya (Twin Brothers) when Salt Woman moved from the Hopi Mesas to Öngtupka (Salt Canyon). After this trail was established, generations of Hopi men used the route during pilgrimages to collect salt and conduct rituals in the Grand Canyon....For the Hopi people, trails embody spiritual values that complement their physical imprint on the ground. The cultural importance of trails is related to the ritual activities and shrines associated with them. Hopi depictions of trails provide cognitive maps that

visualize the landmarks encountered during travel and the ritual activities undertaken during the journey. This is illustrated in a mural showing the Hopi trail to Zuni Salt Lake painted by Fred Kabotie and on display at the Painted Desert Inn in Petroglyph National Monument. In this mural Hopi men are seen traveling from their corn fields on the Hopi Mesas to Zuni Salt Lake, passing springs and prominent landforms along the way, camping, and engaging in ritual activities. After collecting salt, the men are shown returning home via Zuni Pueblo, and finally arriving at their village where they are met by their aunts who have prepared a ritual feast. All of these activities are described in first-person accounts of the pilgrimage, including Don Talayesva’s classic autobiography, Sun Chief....Given the role that trails play in the retention and transmission of Hopi culture, the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office considers them to be traditional cultural properties" LINK pdf

While reading this book - Sun Chief - I was struck by some similarities to the descriptions of the 'Dreamtime Songlines' of the aboriginal Australians, where the landscape becomes alive through stories and mythic associations that are very much related to the topographical features.

There were similarities too, on recently viewing a film called 'The Saltmen of Tibet'. Like the Hopi, these are tribespeople who undertake ( in this case, a month-long journey) to the salt flats to harvest salt for their tribe. To the saltmen the journey is a holy pilgrimage full of its own rituals and spiritual meaning, with even their own secret “salt language”.

Finally - for now - closer to home, I have just spent the weekend near Banbury, where there is evidence of a significant historical 'Salt-Way'. "Salt Way, still used as a bridle path to the west and south of the town, led from Droitwich, Worcestershire to London and the south east of England, its primary use being the transportation of salt." Also, there are a number of Salfords and Saltfords in England, some of which derive from 'salt ford' - a river crossing on an old salt trading route.

As evidenced by the earlier journal post, there is still a need to move vast quantities of salt around the globe - and not just for the old reasons of preserving and eating. Nowadays, huge quantities of salt are used for de-icing roads. Hopefully we will see a stockpile soon?

Finally, here is a salt-import map for New York, showing some originating in Northern Ireland and Cheshire. (click on image for high res version)

CONSOLIDATED COMMENTS :

Thank you for this Antony, I will show LAB today. Thank you for the field trip photos too. The project continues, so I am uploading some great images below. The value of salt, exhibited as valuable stones in jewellery.

Cassie

Art Workshop Leader

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 12:42 PM

Natasha -  LAB

We have got the cabinet for the exhibition. I am really pleased to have got the cabinet. I am experimenting with how my items look in there. I have been looking at a title of 'Preservation' and then leaving the viewer to make up their mind what that means. A preservation of what....? Stories, histories, objects...

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 09:42 PM

Antony

Hi LAB - Natasha, Issy, Beth, Cassie etc

Natasha, the cabinet looks great, and I like the title/term 'preservation'. Good luck with the final set-up. Do you think you'll be able to use the drawers and the inside shelves too?....perhaps even for the bowls of brine? (preserving your production process)

Did you get a chance to watch that Vimeo film-excerpt? There is footage of clothes encrusted in salt, and then a goat-skull at the end.

Issy - the jewelry images are wonderful. Very delicate. are some of the crystals from the Egyptian sea-salt we found? If so, then do watch the film piece, as it features a salt landscape close to Egypt. There is an interesting juxtaposition, or contrast, between the use of that same salt - by the Highways Department - on the roads of Cornwall, and your use in fine jewelry?

Beth - I hope you got the full set of your photos? They really are very good. if you don't get a chance to do the slide-show, I can assemble it for you, and send it.

I'll post up photos of the salt-making in Newlyn. I was there on Saturday night, and showed some video footage (old and new) of various 'salt landscapes' around the world.

Good Luck

Antony

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 11:20 PM

Cat

Monday, April 30, 2012 - 12:04 PM

And this from walesonline.docx   11.9 KB

The Lab

Field Trip

Favourite aspects-

Izzy: Cornwall Council Salt Silos at Scorrier. I found listening to the sounds that the salt made as it was shifted and walked over the most interesting part of the trip because it was fascinating to hear sounds that cannot otherwise be heard.

Beth: I enjoyed doing some photography at both sites. In particular I liked doing portraits however at the council salt silo the shapes that the mounds of salt made were also great to explore lines within the image such as diagonals.

Natasha: My favourite part of today was visiting the salt silo at the council to experience the different textures and tones, and the giant mountains of salt.

We would like to say thank you to Antony for being so helpful on the trip and inspiring some great ideas.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - 05:59 PM

LAB at the Exchange Gallery

Field Trip

Favourite aspects-

Izzy: Cornwall Council Salt Silos at Scorrier. I found listening to the sounds that the salt made as it was shifted and walked over the most interesting part of the trip because it was fascinating to hear sounds that cannot otherwise be heard.

Beth: I enjoyed doing some photography at both sites. In particular I liked doing portraits however at the council salt silo the shapes that the mounds of salt made were also great to explore lines within the image such as diagonals.

Natasha: My favourite part of today was visiting the salt silo at the council to experience the different textures and tones, and the giant mountains of salt.

We would like to say thank you to Antony for being so helpful on the trip and inspiring some great ideas.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - 01:25 PM

Cat

I really enjoyed the language of the extraction process at the Cornish Sea Salt Company: Super Saturation (a particular favourite), Bittern and Fleur de Sel - did anyone else pick anything up? Anything from the salt silo?

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - 01:46 PM

Antony

Hello LAB

Thanks for your post-fieldtrip comments.

I agree - the depot was great. I've never seen so much salt, and I think it is amazing that one of the huge mountains was sea-salt from far-away Egypt. Very exotic.

It is interesting that the Irish salt was mined from deep in the Earth, and is potentially tens or hundreds of millions of years old, while the sea-salt is scraped off the surface, and is only a few years old. Maybe someone could find out exactly what these numbers (ages) are?

I doubt that the workers at the depot (or in the gritting vehicles) give much thought to the story of the salt, the history of its journey. to them it is just a chemical. But art and creativity can help reveal that which is hidden or ignored...or difficult to appreciate in the normal course of events.

The sound-recording experiments were a chance to try to pick up on some aspects of the environment that we don't usually hear.

I'll write another comment very soon. I just need to bundle up some more images and upload them for you, and especially Beth.

And I suggest we do a Skype next week?

By the way, because we didn't get to even see some salt at the Cornish Salt Company, I went out and bought some (see attached image) so that I could touch and taste...and smell it. I'm also using the Egyptian sea-salt as my cooking salt at the moment...also in the image.

Best of luck for now. Antony

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - 02:03 PM