Mapping and Territory

Mapping

I have successfully taught one of my workshops now a couple of times and past participants are eagerly asking for the next ‘chapter’. I had decided to break down the full day workshop into three parts as each part is really quite a substantial subject in itself.

Surface Rubbings from an earlier workshop.

So literally moving on from ‘Way-finding and the art of Psycho-geography’, there will be another workshop looking at ‘Mapping and Territory’. It is with this in mind that I have been immersing myself in many books on mapping, walking routes using maps and rereading the relevant part of my personal MA research.

Robert Macfarlane has had a lot of press coverage recently as he launches his new book ‘Landmarks’, I love the way he writes, he is a true observer of the beauty of place. I feel an affinity with the way he approaches the subject. Yet to be honest, as I am on the cusp of writing my own book about connecting people to place (through the simple act of walking), I feel hesitant about picking his newest book up and starting to read it. I know it will be enjoyable, beautifully written and informative.

But I need to refine my own thoughts, research and practice and concentrate on finding my own voice in this ever increasing popular subject.

Mapping my post-it notes..

I started to literally map my blog two weeks ago, taking subjects, words and themes and mapping them out on post it notes in front of me. I easily used up a few pads of pale yellow notes, arranged about a third of these on a large sheet of paper and stopped. I have so much information and although grouping a third of it together into specific themes, arranging it in an order that I understand does help, it also makes me aware that collating and bridging all these themes into a concise, enjoyable, easy to read book is going to take a while. And that time will not be found in the Easter holidays!

One page of many to do...

So now it is term time again and even a short term such as this will afford me some time to finish arranging the remainder of my post-it notes into order and start developing chapters. Lets hope so anyhow as now I understand why I hear of writers who take themselves away to remote places to construct such a piece of concentrated creative endeavour.

Territory

We spent an enjoyable week in Wales over the Easter break, 3 days of it was spent about 6 metres up in an Oak trees’ canopy. We had travelled up to the southern edge of Snowdonia to stay in a beautiful tree-house in a remote valley that felt truly magical. This could be an ideal place to write a book as there was no WIFI or electricity; the water came from a mountain spring and the heat from a log burning stove.

Fun was had with fire and glow-sticks.

It was wonderful for my family and I to have a break from virtual technological connection and sink back happily into the true nature of things. The glow from the candles and stove was comforting and real but stopped us from reading late into the evening. There wasn’t a TV or radio to distract us either, so time was spent well, living with the natural cycle of the daylight hours and dusk to dark times.

Our tree-house.

Because of this we all went to bed earlier than I can ever remember doing, as a family and naturally awoke relaxed and happy the next day as the daylight got brighter. This gentle transition time felt so natural, as it would be, that I wanted to try it once we had returned home, but there are so many distractions here that I haven’t even managed to try, maybe we need to book a tree-house holiday for next year to make that happen again.

Nestled in the trees.

There were 5 tree-houses in the valley, there are all located on one side of the stream in ancient woodland, a final and sixth one is now being built. Each tree-house had its own bridge that took you from one side of the stream to the other, these bridges could be seen if you knew where to look, the tree-houses were less easy to see.

From the moment of crossing ‘our’ bridge to climbing ‘our’ tree we felt more familiar to the area and started to know our place. As we timidly explored our surroundings I felt an emerging sense of belonging to the home that we as a family were about to stay in for a few days.

 

At home.

The next day we felt we knew the territory a bit better and became happier to leave it and discover the larger context of the place that we were staying in. In blazing sunshine we walked a large circular route around the surrounding hills and were able to pinpoint our magical valley.

Looking down on the magical valley from the surrounding hills.

As we returned back to the tree-house it felt like home and we had a few daylight hours to ‘hang out’ back at camp, outside, before stove heated water washed us in the open shower cubicle under the tree-house and in the dusk we climbed back up the spiral staircase to spend another early night in the trees, gently feeling the movement of the branches, cradling us as we dreamt.

The tree-houses blend in, even in the Spring.

Recognition

Recognition

I believe that humans need to feel like they have a purpose in the world. When this is recognised, a feeling of value is generated. This feeling of value creates happiness which in turn can encourage good health and wellbeing. So, to go to a ‘conversation’ about value and come out of it 3 hours later none the wiser left me disheartened and frustrated. The ‘Creative Challenge’ hinted at, but not explained by the host, Uwe Derkson, on the day was ‘How Do We Articulate Value?’  

His co-host was Nixiwaka Yawanawa, a member of the most endangered tribe in the world, the Awa, who has been working with Survival International since 2013.

I really enjoyed hearing Nixiwaka talk. It felt a privilege to be there and hear his considered answers to all the questions that he was asked. He explained that his tribe all have a calling to connect with the land, they live in nature and practice spirituality regularly, through ritual, ceremonies and journeying. Two shamans guide them, one is 102 years old and the other one, well, he explained, no-one really knows how old he is…

I will not explain any more about the ‘conversation’, as I was deeply ashamed to have been part of UCA, (the University of the Creative Arts), in the not too distant past. I completed my MA with them just over a year ago and it was with a form of loyalty that I chose my old college, (Medway College of Design), which now forms part of the UCA, as a base for my learning. To cut a long and disturbing story short, I felt it was nothing but aloofness and arrogance that Uwe Derkson represented on that day, on behalf of the UCA, to both the audience, me included and to Nixiwaka.

When I spoke to Nixiwaka after the event it transpires that he does not judge, he and his tribe share and he recognises his purpose whilst over here is to educate others about the threatened indigenous peoples’ way of life. I really hope to catch up with him another time, I would love to walk with him in nature and understand more about his tribes’ connection with the land.

I had identified this quote earlier in the week for this blog and now it seems even more meaningful. If more of us were able to connect with the spirit of nature and access the wisdom of our ancestors, we would take more care of the miracle which is life.

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe around us, the less taste we shall have for destruction" - Rachel Carson

Connecting People

So, I wonder, how can this be done? I think, by just getting out there and walking.

Walking and experiencing reality.

Both, in nature and in urban areas,

Along paths, across landscapes.

Walking.

Placing one foot in front of another.

Pacing, breathing and being.

Becoming human again. 

Peace can be found in this way.

Walking.

People to place

Connecting people

Putting peace in place.

Movement

I remember at school, in Biology, learning a mnemonic for a living thing. The word was REMRING. It featured all the factors needed for life. I still remember it today. Respiration, excretion, movement, reproduction, ingestion, nutrition and growth.  Movement is the factor I recognised the other day which was key to my walking project. Ok, it’s obvious now, so it seems a bit silly to have pointed it out, but if I am going to take anything from meeting Nixiwaka, it is a keenness to not judge (as often) and to share (more). The most exciting quote I could relate to whilst writing my MA critical paper was by Francesco Careri. It was about how, as humans we stood up and walked and what it meant to us in the world.

‘…walking takes on a symbolic form that has enabled man to dwell in the world. By modifying the sense of the space crossed, walking becomes man’s first aesthetic act, penetrating the territories of chaos, constructing an order on which to develop the architecture of situated objects. Walking is an art from whose loins spring the menhir, sculpture, architecture, landscape. This simple action has given rise to the most important relationships man has established with the land, the territory.’ Page 20. careri. F. (2009) Walkscapes GG:Spain

Realising that this was the key factor to my project I recognised why Arlette George and I had been introduced. She is a trained dancer and choreographer. Her mastery of movement using the human form will be crucial to us understanding the importance of getting people out there walking. Because using our body as an instrument to sense and experience the world and connect with nature is something that we may have to relearn. To reclaim our territory and to rediscover our sense of place in the communities, in which we live, will require getting out and walking amongst them. In exploring movement as dance and not just walking, I came across this website.

'The Planetary Dance is an annual all-day ritual of healing and community renewal. It brings people of all ages and abilities together in a beautiful setting to dance for a purpose.'

I see the land as needing us to appreciate it, to wonder at all of its resources and recognise our place within it. We are hugely lucky to be living at this time in this place. I believe we need to walk on the land and see its beauty and in connecting to nature in this way, we become part of its system again. The paths can be seen as a metaphor for the future health of the planet and ourselves. Our vascular and respiratory system will improve as we walk more regularly and the flow of people out in nature will allow a deeper understanding of our land.

Then I truly hope we can find our

'Peace in Place'.

(I completed my MA in September 2014 and recorded the last two months of it in another blog called www.thesaltwayfarer.blogspot.co.uk

Please feel free to look at that anytime, as it is from that, that I am where I am now.)