'MAPS'

The personal 'Maps'

I started to draw these very simple personal maps. They emerged as a series of images in pen and ink on faces.  Then, my mind turned to places and experiences that I have held onto, echoes of my childhood and places half remembered. I started to literally reminisce as I drew and to my surprise, it was like recalling the past in visual form. The houses and images that emerged were much simpler than my usual work.  There was no reference other than my memory and as such the drawing became like recorded speech.  A kind of alphabet emerged: Boats became symbols of change and transition, waves signify a difficult road and trees stand for hope. Slowly, the symbolism merged with remembered details of places and people. It was in this organic way that my current work emerged and is taking shape. The ‘Map of Then’ is an amalgam of important places and feelings remembered and felt as if through the eyes of my younger self.  This contributes to the feeling of this image, as something from a childhood encyclopaedia, or story book. The names of the streets and the actual houses are ‘real’ in the sense that I have seen, heard them and remember them. One street, Regina Street’ is named after my grandmother, who played a major role in my brother’s life.

I am now moving on to a much bigger project: To create a visual map of Smyrna or Izmir before the great fire of 1922.  This is a personal project and one which aims to reclaim the past and enable me to become reconciled with my family’s history.

'MAP' Screenprint

Detail of 'Do not Forget me Izmir' Screenprint

'The Siege of Candia' Screenprint

'Map of Then' Hand tinted Screenprint

I thought I would use the idea of 'emotional mapping' aspect to revisit my mother's hometown of Izmir, previously Smyrna, before the majority of the city was destroyed in the great fire of 1922. I chose to start at the small Punta section, which was not affected by the fire. Using French insurance maps, photographs, google street view and advice, materials, and encouragement from the Levantine Heritage archives, I attempted to draw a detailed map of what 'might' once have-been. It is a re-imagining rather than a reconstruction, however, so it will appeal to a sense of nostalgia, rather than a thirst for historical accuracy. The staining in the background is a print directly on top of a photograph of my family on a carefree family weekend. It acts as another kind of 'map' , a ghostly impression of old times, another form of landscape, call it what you will. I silk-printed eight in the series, and additionally used watercolour washes to soften the paper tone - each one slightly different. In the image, you can also see my interpretations of St Voukoulos and St Photini churches, both of which survive in another part of the city. In the top corner, a stamp of the Ottoman Railways printed in three colours, alluding to the movement of people that was to ensue on both sides of the conflict, post the sad and destructive Greco-Turkish war.