The Memory Maps Project is a psycho-geographic exploration in place-making that prompts us to examine our relationship with the city and locate ourselves in it. It integrates memories and experiences with story-telling and arts practice in order to to understand how walking (meandering) together and sharing stories of place can build meaningful connections with each other and where we live. Can this process help bridge gaps between the old and the new—what was, is and will be, to foster belonging, ownership of the city and a sense of community?
The project is visualised as a series of community engagements in different localities (in partnership with local agencies) where participants (local residents) meet and connect while walking through their neighbourhood, sharing memories and stories of it with each other, and then, creating hand-drawn maps as a response to the city. These creative maps of memory and emotion are compiled into an Artists’ Book that is an intimate view of the neighbourhood, as seen by its residents-both old and new.
The book-a visual archive of our emotional experiences, also juxtaposes the maps against oral, text-based and visual stories of the locality to create layers of collective memory. A single Artists’ Book gives us a personal impression of one locality. Many such books may perhaps draw attention to the complementary relationship between individual and city identity, and in the process, support the articulation of a shared vision for Bengaluru.
Excerpt from the book
Coming soon!
This book is an outcome of the Memory Maps Workshop-Malleswaram, designed and facilitated by Aliyeh Rizvi and Arzu Mistry, in partnership with Suchitra Deep and Malleswaram Social. This project is made possible with support from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Project 560 programme and partnered by Citi India.
