On Mapping (I)
The Photographer's Eye
Topographic photography is about the perception of space1, and turning the perceived into something tangible constitutes, desired or not, designing a new space: by publishing pictures of a region, a photographer not only transports a mental image of that region — and thus reveals parts of his own identity —, but he also is in the position to offer alternative geographies. This is especially useful where the to be perceived itself is exposed to identity design2.
Other Tangibles
Taking photos of course is just one agent for conveying the perceived. Others include writing, painting, offering guided walks or drawing maps. The latter is what I am looking into at the moment. My ongoing Dortmund photo project has turned out to be a study of concurring geographies — emerging, vanishing, persisting, imposed geographies, imaginary and real ones. Maps — mental and actual ones — are a major source, and I am thinking about using some maps in the project's final result as well to present background information.
Mark Power's »26 Different Endings« is a prime example of how a photo book can gain from using multiple agents3: Power's photographs come with this autotobiographical essay by David Chandler (PDF), a moving personal narrative about the very area Power took photos of. By offering an additional view on the space in question, Chandler did not only write a photo book foreword actually worth reading, but made this gorgeous book even more stunning.
Connecting the Dots
When it comes to using maps, Joost Grootens' work is a prime source of inspiration, and the recently published »Migropolis« is a fascinating account of how far mapping a city can go.
Dutch architectural designer Joost Grooten started designing books in 1998 and specializes in atlases that combine explicit facts "drawn in such a clear way that it hurts" (Grooten on Grooten) with "implicit manifestos" (video). While for him, "the physical experience of handling a book is part of the message" (video), »The big KAN Atlas«, a "survey of the Arnhem-Nijmegen urban network" is also available as free PDF.
Migropolis / Atlas of a Global Situation is a large-scale forensic field study of Venice, "the place of longing at the junction of three migration corridors", turned into a 1,300 pages, 2 volumes book with 2,000 photos, maps, diagrams and other illustrations. The table of contents (PDF) gives you an impression of the amplitude of this study. To facilitate access to such an amount of information, it is layered on top of a map well known: the Monopoly gameboard (PDF). The gameboard is also used for navigating the project's website: hover your mouse over the content area to reveal it.
Primers
»Mapping a City« by Hamburger Kunstverein is a good primer on the subject. The bilingual book (German/English) contains a theoretical section covering mapping and cartography in contemporary "art and the cultural sciences, film theory, urban ethnology, urban studies and human geography" and a documentation of the yearlong "Hamburg Mapping" project. I also liked the short introduction on Making Maps over at cosmopolitan scum.
Space and its perception has become a major topic in sociology, but little has been written about the actual act of perceiving and interpreting space in photography. This act often follows a helical pattern, with the photographer's point of view shifting and questions moving out of and into focus as his work progresses. Ville Lenkkeri describes this nicely in his foreword to his new book The Place of No Roads. ↩
Identity design is often taking place where Olympic Games or World Expos are held, European Capitals of Culture are declared or similiar events happen. Officials try to change the public perception of their respective region, to design new images they want to be viewed in specific manners, and to this end they build intentional landscapes, construct new official geographies. ↩
Interestingly, it also happens to be based on a map: Power travelled to those 26 grid squares at which the A to Z London Street Atlas ends. Standing on the edge of mapped terrain, he looked out on space that has literally fallen off the map. ↩
