Deep Mapping
Deep mapping is a multidisciplinary approach that combines elements of geography, anthropology, history, ecology, and art to create a holistic and immersive representation of a particular place or landscape.
In my practice a deep map, or spatial narrative, is a complex layering of different sorts of media and content like texts, photographs, video and drawings.
The oldest house in Oppède-le-Vieux
Oppède-le-Vieux, our residency of the past twenty years, is perched on a rocky outcrop in the Luberon region of Provence. It’s known for its medieval architecture, rich history and vegetation. But also its desolation and silence. The name says it all, ‘vieux’ (old in French), and I wondered what the oldest house in the village… Continue reading
Thinking through making
As part of the deep mapping project around Saint Augustin, I set out to better understand how building a new site in the 12th century might have unfolded. Instead of relying on written sources alone, I chose to explore this through making. Not far from the location I was documenting, I constructed a larger-scale sculpture:… Continue reading
The creation of a story map: Moulin Saint-Augustin, Oppède
Estate map vs. story map In the creation of the story map for the Moulin Saint-Augustin in Oppède Provence, I started by learning the history on what estate maps used to be. Estate maps, also known as land maps or cadastral maps, have a long history dating back centuries. These maps were created to document… Continue reading
The landscape as memory
When we consider a landscape to be the memory of time, a collection of past events, I cannot but speculate when I see the breach in the dry stone wall where wild boars, coming from the mountain, have made a passage to look for water in the valley during dry periods. Continue reading
The cultural artefact in the Provençal landscape
Drawing is that rare thing that gives you a chance of very close identification with something, or somebody, who is not you. A quote by John Berger that stays with me … Continue reading
Jean-Paul Clébert’s house
Unfortunately less known and hard to find in translation, but for me, Jean-Paul Clébert is right up there with Giono and Bosco. Especially when you know that Guy Debord (Situationists) based his ‘dérive’ on the writing of Clébert. Continue reading
About Me
World citizen with a notebook in hand to write, sketch and tell stories with all senses present.
This blog is a zibaldone in itself — part notebook, part stage, where fragments turn into text, images, and sometimes motion. Mostly on keeping a zibaldone, Provence, sketching and stories of all kind.
Recent Posts
- The oldest house in Oppède-le-Vieux
- A Double-chambered Vessel
- Thinking through making
- Coup d’État
- Mexico 1986, my plein air sketch roots
- A commissioned travel journal
- The creation of a story map: Moulin Saint-Augustin, Oppède
- The landscape as memory
- The cultural artefact in the Provençal landscape
- Jean-Paul Clébert’s house
