“Maps are embedded in a history they help construct”
“every view is but one perspective on the common scene”
– Denis Wood, The Power of Maps
Our experiences colour our perspectives- how objective are the maps we have created, and how do they change with different purposes and viewpoints? How have maps evolved with us, and how do they reflect us as cultures?
Representation of shifting boundaries and urban sprawl in Nottingham
Thinking about the changing landscape over time, I began to paint a representative map showing the shift in boundaries and urban sprawl in Nottingham over time. I quickly realised however that this was an almost impossible task due to the fluid nature of historical maps and lack of data available for certain time periods, so I abandoned this approach.
Examining the subjective nature of maps, I have begun creating a map of my walk at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I started with a birdseye view copied from a map of the park, and I am overlaying the image with a specific viewpoint that I experienced. I want to interlace the two viewpoints, showing that neither can be an objective truth.
I started out with a birdseye view of the park
I wasn’t happy with the end result of the image- I wanted to show two perspectives of the walk, however I felt that neither were coming through clearly in the image. I decided to change my approach and so I looked at antique maps that had been hand drawn. I found this illustrated map of bridges along the river Trent and I really liked the meandering nature of the map, with landmarks painted in different proportions.
Inspired by this, I took a map that I collected from Yorkshire Sculpture Park and digitally overlayed some of my sketches from the walk. I’m much happier with this result because I feel that it shows an accurate reflection of my experience of the walk. I like the result, but if I were to use the same process again, I would produce the sketches digitally from the beginning because I have lost some detail during the process of digitising my sketches.
Antique map of bridges along the river Trent
My own illustrative map of Yorkshire Sculpture Park