Ideas behind Dedicated to You
With this project, I want us to map the domestic architectural spaces of homes, urban, suburban or rural neighbourhoods, gardens, parks and forests. I want us to map places of work, of rest, public and private, the passing and the accumulation of time. I want us to map places of political and personal struggle. I want us to map not only a physical environment but also a landscape of events and stories, of natural processes, of economics and politics, and of personal and emotional memories. I want us to map a socially and spatially dynamic community.
An invitation for you to participate in dedicated to you:
I have been asked by The Nanaimo Art Gallery to initiate my project dedicated to you in Nanaimo during the summer of 2007. dedicated to you is a community project where I am working with the residents of Nanaimo to create a personalized portrait of the city. The project has several components.
The first component is a collaborative mapping project that invites residents to draw collective maps of Nanaimo based on their own experiences. Over the summer months I will be hosting public mapping events in Nanaimo. At these events friends and strangers will gather together in pairs to draw. Together participants will begin describing their experience of the city. This could reference a significant time, emotion, history or place. As the description develops both participants draw together generating layers that describe the physical landscape, the people, their movements and their experiences.
In conjunction to drawing maps I am also inviting residents to share memories of Nanaimo on this website. The function of this webpage is to collect location-specific stories, memories and narratives from your personal experiences of Nanaimo, BC, Canada. Landscape holds history. Walk down any familiar street and your memory is constantly triggered by mundane and significant events that relate directly to that location. Write your story, note the exact location that inspired it and post it here on this webpage.
With these projects my intention is to bring residents together to explore personal histories and investigate the place that they call home. All ages are welcome and previous experience or skill is not required. Please contact me if you are interested in participating or for further information.