Aesthetic Exploration: River Deltas – “People of the forks”

The fascinating natural features of a river delta, where at the mouth of a river into a greater body of water create vast amounts of forking waterways provided individuals with immense amounts of resources to settle for centuries. This aesthetic exploration will explore what has resulted from this culture and lifestyle out of an aesthetic point, and more specifically will focus on the delta of the Danube river.

The Danube Delta has attracted settlements for a diverse group of people including Turks since ottoman ruling of the land to the Lipovan people escaping prosecution. The vast waterways and the marshy, fertile land along with a great diverse background of people and beliefs brought interesting and unique ways of life that are highlighted by the aesthetics.

The above photograph highlights a typical residence of a village in the Danube Delta. Due to the vast waterways and sparse villages, Cars can not access the majority of villages in the Danube Delta. It is necessary to travel by boat and to rely on personal gardens and fish for food due to isolation from major towns.

Nearly every household in this region can be identified with roofing made of reeds and walls, doors or window frames consisting of a unique blue color. This color is significant to the region, as it is traditional both in the sense to ward off evil spirits, as well as it is believed by the people to repel mosquitos, which are abundant in the wet landscape. The roofing will nearly always be of reeds, as it is an abundant resource in the wetlands of the delta and will provide sufficient insulation and is durable as well long lasting.

The flamboyant coloring of these villages allows it to distinctly vary from most countryside villages.

While boats are necessary for transportation, engines are only useful in major branches and canals. The vegetation in the majority of water ways requires large poles and oars in order to navigate.

Water ways are lined with sticks poking out of the water marked with cloths as flags. These indicate the location of fishing nets. Many of these nets are communal, where villages will have people take turns setting and retrieving fish from nets.

The isolated lifestyle with immense nature and great resources creates a colorful yet rustic aesthetic. The Danube Delta us is considered one of the last truly wild and well protected places in mainland Europe, with a total population of about 20,000 people in both Romania and Ukraine, it has a population density of just 2 people per square kilometer.

These people are relatively poor in comparison to those living adjacent to the Delta. Under a recent communist dictator regime, the people were taken advantage of in order to export and utilize the natural resources.

Under the spirit that comes with tradition and beauty of the land along with the vast resources, the people of the Danube Delta have established a beautiful aesthetic where their communities may coexist with the isolation of the nature.  Old boats, fishing lifestyle, roofs of reeds and beautiful colors with subsistence sized farms and unity among a community highlight the region and is best displayed through a feeling rather images.

Here is a link to a video if you are further interested in learning or seeing how life is like in this region.

..     http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZMv6kSt_g0