Union Bay Cannery, Alaska 1932

George Paul Tsutakawa created this woodblock print titled 'Union Bay Cannery, Alaska' in 1932. Notice how the cannery buildings huddle together, repeating forms under a heavy sky, as if seeking shelter. This repetition echoes ancient visual strategies where similar forms create a psychological sense of enclosure. Consider the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, with their repetitive tiers, or even the crowded, protective arrangements in medieval cityscapes. Here, the clustered buildings might evoke the universal human desire for security and community, a retreat from the unknown. The cannery, a place of labor and transformation, is thus made into a kind of refuge, a powerful psychological symbol embedded deep in our collective memory. The sharp contrast and compressed space only heighten the emotional intensity of this scene. It is not merely a depiction of a place, but a mirror reflecting our own primal needs and anxieties.