Anna King Anna King

Placeways

Mapping Our Relationship With Place

 

Clips from an interview with Ursula Ledwith, The Arts Programme, RosFm. Full interview available here.

PLACEWAYS is a Creative Places Ballaghaderreen Project.

Over the coming months, Anna will explore with the Ballaghaderreen community how places are known, imagined, lived-in, felt and remembered. 

“Together we will consider how people form attachments to - and derive meaning from a place”.  

Anna has five PLACEWAYS projects:

Creative Places Ballaghaderreen | DATES Below

PLACEWAYS: Mapping Our Past, present & future Relationship with place

Anna warmly invites members of the Ballagh community to join her in tracing a series of ‘PLACEWAYS’ during four contemplative walks. 

While pathways refer to both tangible and observable routes taken to navigate through space, ‘PLACEWAYS’ include how people perceive and interact with a place. 

While pathways are a part of ‘PLACEWAYS’ - placeways also include the cultural, social, and emotional dimensions of people's relationships with a place. This might include the rituals, memories, stories, and personal connections associated with a particular location.

Each walk starts at a unique cardinal direction (North, East, South, West) and we will trace our way to the Ballaghaderreen Community Garden (which symbolises ‘the source of eternal unfolding’).

As participants navigate their way through the landscape, they will be encouraged to observe and describe various elements of their surroundings through their senses: plants, natural features, waterways, shapes, shadows, and structures.

During these walks we will share stories at key heritage sites, as well as pause for a few moments of reflection - to give space for these features to reveal more than what is initially perceived, thus allowing for a deeper connection to the essence, contours and language of the land. This is an opportunity to experience a familiar environment in a new / refreshing way; and to let go of preconceived perspectives. This endeavour aims to awaken a sensory memory of our profound connection to place.

Circle seated area in the community garden with wild flowers, the location for Creative Places Ballaghaderreen

Photo: Ref: Ballaghaderreen Community Garden Facebook

A ‘PLACEWAYS’ Map

As participants sense their way to the garden, Anna will document the walks and experiences (using prose, photography, videos and illustration).

Each of the four ‘PLACEWAYS’ leading back to 'The Garden' will be traced onto natural translucent paper with important landmarks, symbols, and elements of the terrain. 

These maps will then be placed on top of each other, so that all four ‘PLACEWAYS’ can be seen together, but through different veils of thin paper, symbolising the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate elements of life. The PLACEWAYS map is an opportunity to reimagine space and place as an interconnected whole.

Our NEXT walk (in association with the Ballaghaderreen Arts Festival) will include a presentation of some of the themes raised during previous excursions, as well as a Heritage Exhibition at The Shambles:

See details: PLACEWAYS - A Reflective Journey & Heritage Exhib

More info about each walk will be updated regularly on social media. Keep an eye on our instagram page for regular updates.

These walks are part of a year long residency with Creative Places Ballaghaderreen, funded by the Arts Council, Ireland and Roscommon County Council.

General info:

Overview

Throughout history, civilisations worldwide have developed traditions akin to Australian Aboriginal Songlines and Irish Ley lines, which emphasise the profound bond between people and their surroundings. These traditions, spanning Native American trails, Chinese Feng Shui principles, Roman roads and Maori tracks, involve the creation of pathways linking significant landscape features. Beyond utilitarian purposes, such as transportation and navigation, these pathways held/hold deep cultural, spiritual, and social significance.

Exploring PLACEWAYS offers several valuable advantages:

  • Transcending cultural boundaries: Engaging with PLACEWAYS enables individuals to connect beyond cultural divides, and fosters cross-cultural encounters. While this form of creative experience is rooted in the present moment, it holds the potential to enrich community relationships in the future.

  • Creating connections between neighbourhoods: Sketching a new map based on PLACEWAYS in Ballagh may serve to connect otherwise distinct neighbourhoods and strengthen community bonds.

  • Reimagining place-based townscapes through symbolic maps: Realising and physically traversing PLACEWAYS presents an opportunity to envision townscapes that are more interconnected.

For more info on Creative Places Ballaghaderreen click HERE

 
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