“In other words, maps hold a clue to what makes us human. Certainly, they relate and realign our history. They reflect our best and worst attributes - discovery and curiosity, conflict and destruction - and they chart our transitions of power. Even as individuals, we seem to have a need to plot a path and track our progress, to imagine possibilities of exploration and escape. The language of maps is integral to our lives, too. we have achieved something if we have put ourselves (or our town) on the map. The organized among us have things neatly mapped out. We need compass points or we lose our bearings. We orient ourselves (for on old maps east was on the map). We give someone a degree of latitude to roam.” (Garfield, 2013, p.18)
While walking and sketching the city of London I was also mapping my surroundings. This idea became important both in my artistic practice but also to my research.
There are many different ways to use maps as the source material for creative work. The book Mapping it out: an alternative atlas of contemporary cartographies, edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist is proof of that . Maps can sometimes be “an abstraction of the physical world - a symbolic depiction of a space or idea” (Ulbrich, 2014, p.11) or “(...) about directions and obstacles. The circulation of the blood. The blood of cities.” (Ulbrich, 2014, p.182) while also being “an internal journey that humans make into “oneself” (Ulbrich, 2014, p.201)
As I was working, I understood I wanted to incorporate sensations attached to ideas of strolling, of geographical routines, not as a single event but instead as an organic accumulation of these daily movimentations. This ideas can be included into concepts such as psychogeography, an interesting term that was also integrated in my research.
“Once you have built up a good picture of the shape of the land and its character, it is time to search for the lines that humans have drawn in the landscape in the form of roads, railway lines and paths.” (Gooley, 2014, p.23)
Artists and authors
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Ian Sinclair
Ben Judah
Mark Mason
Travis Elborough
Robert Mcfarlane
Tristan Gooley
Alighiero Boetti
Books, exhibitions and others
Coverley, M. (2006) Psycogeography. Herts: Oldcastel books
Glaeser, E. (2012) Triumph of the City. London: Penguin Books
Judah, B. (2016) This is London. London: Picador
Taylor, C. (2011) Londoners. London: Granta Publications
Sinclair, I. (2017) The Last London. London: Oneworld Publications
Elborough, T. (2017) A walk in the Park. London: Vintage
Gooley, T. (2016) A Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Mcfarlane, R. (2012) The Old Ways. London: Penguin Books
Garfield, S. (2013) On the Map. London: Profile Books Ltd
Obrist, H. (2014) Mapping it Out: an Alternative Atlas of Contemporary Cartographies. London: Thames & Hudson