If we think of the great milestones of the 20th century, a few names come to mind: astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, for instance: there is something poetic about the feat they accomplished when they set foot on the moon…
Carl Sagan is another of those names. He took part in the moon project, and also in the Mariner 9 mission to Mars. This mission was designed to orbit Mars and it led scientists to the conclusion that the red planet may have sustained life a long time ago. Sagan was also linked to the Pioneer and Voyager projects. After having explored the most distant planets in the solar system, the two space probes were to travel forever across the universe, carrying a golden record that contained information on life on Earth.
It was at Sagan’s insistence that Voyager took and sent photos of Earth from the farthest limits of the galaxy… Sagan was a broad-minded scientist, fascinated by the stars and the mystery of life. In the course of this controversial century, men and women have always had their feet firmly planted on the ground and their eyes set on the Cosmos.
Early 21st century: humankind needs to look back on its origins; it will then reconnect with earth and develop a new concern for its own habitat. By examining their attitude as lords of the entire planet, men and women everywhere realize that they are immersed in an impoverished ecosystem, which has been defiled by their own immoderate ambition to attain power and wealth. Following Albert Einstein’s principle that “there is no effect without a cause”, they proceed to acknowledge their own guilt as they crave the comfort of crystal-clear water once more. In its desperate attempt to restore the balance of nature, humankind understands that preserving water – a vital element whose future is now uncertain – means obeying its own instinct for self-preservation, in view of a fact that speaks for itself: H20 accounts for 70% to 80% of a human being’s body mass, of its organic matter. As experts say, H20 is the essence of life.
Oh river, talk to me, sing to me, restore me to life is an attempt to add an artistic and poetic voice to all the scientific, social, ecological, environmental and legal manifestations that now seem focussed on this critically important issue for humanity: repairing the damage already done to the environment and safeguarding it for the future.
Oh river, talk to me, sing to me, restore me to life is an imaginative tale that recreates the early history of the American continent, its discovery, colonization and subsequent life. Adriana Ramponi, from Buenos Aires, was inspired to write it by the collection of pictures taken by François-Régis Fournier, a photographer artist from Montreal. In these, he focusses on water in its different states and forms: clouds, drops, rain, mist, frost, snow, ice and thaw, rainbows, puddles, brooks, lakes, falls, rivers and oceans; as well as the water tamed by dams, reservoirs and canals, or associated with art in the form of fountains of various styles and allegorical expressions.
These images were captured by Fournier through his “tiny window on the world”, as he refers to his camera, in each port, town or region where he stopped to observe water and bear witness to it, in its liquid, solid or gaseous form, as he sailed up the magnificent Saint Lawrence River and explored its varied scenery. The Saint Lawrence, “great road that walks” as the Native Indians called it, was described by poet Pierre Morency as “… the principal beat of the landscape, a place for meetings and adventure, vast channel, a paradox of power and vulnerability, majestic road for all migrations, vehicle and pool of life, lord of the winds and of the seasons.” He goes on to say: “Blood supply for half the continent, the river sings a grand overture to the Atlantic Ocean. The Saint Lawrence is the oldest river in the world.”
The Saint Lawrence flows for 3 300 kilometers and is fed by the waters of huge lakes and 350 tributaries, some of which are also large rivers.
And when Morency writes that it “is the oldest river in the world”, it’s because the Saint Lawrence made its bed in the tectonic faults and a deep fissure located between the Precambrian Laurentians and the Appalachians, a mountain range whose origin also dates back to the Palaeozoic era. A portion of its coastline is 1 800 million years old. But since it has been shaped by the retreat of the Champlain Sea, which occurred less than 10,000 years ago, it is, amazingly, an extremely young river, with some stretches more impetuous than any rapids. Both young and old, a river without age… What a privilege!
Then, a long time ago, but much nearer to our own era, the Spanish Catholic kings were driven to explore the possible existence of another route to the East by going South. This had led Juan Díaz de Solís to discover the Río de la Plata in 1512. In 1534, Francis the First, King of France, inspired by the same interest, put Jacques Cartier in charge of an expedition that was to travel North in an attempt to reach “certain islands and countries where gold and other riches were said to be found in large quantities”. This Northern route would open a new door to the Orient and be added to the French crown. On July 23, 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a flag in the new land and claimed the Bay of Gaspé and the Baie des Chaleurs for the King of France.
A year later, Cartier made a second voyage. He sailed up the Saint Lawrence and, braving the bad weather, he succeeded in establishing settlements in the areas where Quebec and Montreal would later be founded. In 1536, Cartier returned to France, convinced that he had explored the Eastern coast of Asia. In fact, he had paved the way for the coming of Champlain, who would found Quebec City just a few years later. That same year, 1536, under King Charles the First of Spain, great rival of the King of France, the Spanish led by Don Pedro de Mendoza established a settlement on the banks of the Río de la Plata, where the future city of Buenos Aires would rise.
Seas, waterways, rivers: thoroughfares for colonization.
History is full of coincidences: same date for the settlements on the Saint Lawrence and the Río de la Plata, similar ambitions in the King of France and the King of Spain, close destinies for the conquering sailors who arrived on this continent over calm or rough seas, a fate shared by countless immigrants who have since ventured on the wide rivers that carry the very significance of the continent in order to live in a new society.
And there it is, a conjunction and a symbiosis between our histories and our American cultures, North and South, between Argentina and Canada, two polar countries, so far from each other and yet, so close in so many ways.
We will start with a view of the Río de la Plata, the “lion-coloured river”, the “fresh-water sea” as “porteños” call it in Argentina, and we will invite you on a virtual journey to Canada. Let us join in a transcontinental embrace, from Argentina, which is, with Chile, one of the two southernmost countries in America, to the farthest northern end of our continent. We will then share a joyful vision of nature and sing a hymn to its beauty and power and to the new man who wishes to witness the rebirth of Mother Earth.
Let us begin then…
