Maps & things
So I’m working on a project right now that was sparked from me finding all the old bits and bobs from my trip here 5 years ago, and I could use your help.
I’ve been thinking about how we cary with us maps of places we’ve lived or visited that have a relationship to the physical map of the place, but also diverge from concrete reality and live in an imaginary time-bubble in our heads. I can still travel the roads of Framingham, the town I spent most of my childhood in, as they were 15 years ago, although now many of the store have changed and new housing developments litter woods and fields as I knew them. I have, on occasion, desperately scoured maps of Milford to try to match up what I remember of where my dad moved directly after my parents’ divorce to a physical location, all to no avail. But, is our memory of the place more important than the reality of it as both we and the world move on?
So I’m curious about the maps that live solely in our heads, our memories of a place. I’d like to gather people’s stories & recollections of places they’ve lived, or are/were important to them in Glasgow. Then I’m going to try to go and document those places, whether they’re there or, if not, the remnants of them, or what they’ve become. I’ve got a couple ideas about how I could present these overlapping stories and realities of the places… I’m thinking maybe making prints of places that have changed and drawing/painting over them, or making digital maps that aren’t literal topographies but relational ones (places that are important being larger than places that aren’t) or overlaying different people’s maps of the same place with actual maps to see where there are similarities and divergences.
And that’s where you come in, my wonderful friends. I’d like your memories. That sounds utterly creepy when I write it down, doesn’t it? Basically I’d like to interview some of you. I kind of want a mix of free form recollections and stories as well as maybe some more concrete walk-throughs (maybe sitting down & pouring over google maps?). So if you can think of a part of town (or two or three!) that has significance to you & don’t mind being part of my work, let me know. I really appreciate the help & will pay you handsomely in biscuits! Thanks guys!!











